NFL 2020-21 Season-long Thread 🏈🏈🏈

Saints fined 500 thousand dollars and a 7th round draft pick for celebrating Bucs win in locker room after second Bucs defeat.

Besides the $500,000 fine that the Saints were punished with, the NFL also took their seventh-round pick in the upcoming draft. Of course, seeing that New Orleans isn’t fond of the outcome of the investigation, they will appeal the punishment that was levied on them.

The Saints were one of many teams to share videos of that sort of celebration on social media, but Schefter reports that the NFL is considering New Orleans a repeat offender against its COVID-19 protocols after Saints coach Sean Payton was fined for not covering his face in games early this season. An example Schefter points to in his report is the Las Vegas Raiders’ repeat offenses, which sparked an outbreak of infections that forced game rescheduling.

To be clear: this isn’t Schefter’s opinion, he’s echoing what his league sources are telling him and carrying their water to maintain that relationship for future reporting. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a false equivalence and another instance of the NFL making an example out of the Saints organization to get everyone else in line. It’s bogus for the NFL to punish the Saints for something other teams were doing, and the Saints are rightfully appealing the penalties.

These penalties from the league will be forgotten fairly quickly, but it’s more about the principle of the Saints being punished while other teams skate by. The Saints are being hit harder for bad optics than the Tennessee Titans were for an uncontrolled outbreak that threatened the entire season. Add it to the list of grievances Saints fans have suffered over the years, from the Bountygate sham to the 2018 NFC championship game no-call.

clutchpoints.com/saints-news-new-orleans-loses-draft-pick-for-maskless-celebration-after-win-vs-bucs/
saintswire.usatoday.com/2020/11/29/nfl-covid-19-saints-punishment-maskless-celebration/