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"All four players punished in the NFL's bounty investigation have filed appeals with the league. People familiar with the situation say the players have asked Commissioner Roger Goodell to remove himself as arbitrator because they do not believe he can be impartial.One of the people also says New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma expects to play at Tampa Bay on Oct.\u00A0 21 while his appeal is pending. The people spoke to The Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because the appeals were filed as private documents with the leagueVilma is suspended for the season, while Saints defensive end Will Smith is suspended four games, free agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove seven games and Cleveland linebacker Scott Fujita one game.Goodell reissued the suspensions on Tuesday. Vilma and Smith's suspensions went unchanged. Hargrove and Fujita's were reduced.The NFL Player's Association disagreed with the commissioner's ruling.\"For more than six months, the NFL has ignored the facts, abused the process outlined in our collective bargaining agreement and failed to produce evidence that the players intended to injure anyone, ever,\" the NFLPA said in a statement. \"The only evidence that exists is the League\u2019s gross violation of fair due process, transparency and impartiality during this process.\"Contention between the current and former Saints players is growing. Fujita issued a statement in response to Goodell's letter to him, criticizing the commissioner's tone.Fujita said in the statement that he's pleased Goodell acknowledged he never participated in the Saints' pay-for-hits program, but did not like the content of the letter.Goodell wrote to Fujita that he was \"surprised and disappointed by the fact that you, a former defensive captain and a passionate advocate for player safety, ignored such a program and permitted it to continue ... If you had spoken up, perhaps other players would have refused to participate and the consequences with which we are now dealing could have been avoided.\"Fujita, who met with Goodell on Sept. 28 in New York, fired back, saying he was most bothered that Goodell's \"condescending tone used in his redetermination letter\u00A0 was neither accurate nor productive.\"Fujita went on, \"Additionally, I am now purportedly being suspended for failing to confront my former defensive coordinator for his inappropriate use of language. This seems like an extremely desperate attempt to punish me. I also think it sets a dangerous precedent when players can be disciplined for not challenging the behavior of their superiors. This is an absolute abuse of the power that's been afforded to the commissioner.\"Saints quarterback Drew Brees stood by Fujita in an interview with the NFL Network on Thursday morning.\u201CI agree with everything that Scott Fujita said in his statement. I thought it was a strong statement, certainly very true,\u201D he said.\u201CThis could go on for a while because, certainly, our players are not satisfied with some of the things that Commissioner Goodell has claimed or said,\u201D Brees said. \u201CIt seems like so much of his suspensions have been based upon speculation and rhetoric and maybe the testimony of some pretty unreliable sources. So that\u2019s the unfortunate thing -- it seems like his decision changes quite a bit and at least the reasoning behind what his decision is. So that is the disappointing part of it for all of us.\u201DThe players were implicated in what the NFL said was a bounty pool run by former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and paid improper cash bonuses for hits that injured opponents. The players have acknowledged a pool but denied they intended to injure anyone.11646738"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wdsu.com/article/4-players-file-bounty-appeals-to-nfl-ask-to-remove-goodell-as-arbitrator/3359274>