The head of the NFL Players Association called Friday for the re-opening of the probe that led to four players being suspended for their alleged roles in the New Orleans Saints' bounty scandal.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said on NBCSports.com's Pro Football Talk Live that rather than close the investigation, he'd like to see the entire process re-opened for additional examination and scrutiny.
To that end, Smith plans to talk with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about not only reconsidering reopening the investigation, but also to illustrate the fact that Smith believes the investigation process was flawed and failed.
"Frankly, I believe that the investigators let the commissioner down," Smith said. "Our hope, and certainly it will be a message from me to the league soon, is that given all of the recantations and all of the contradictions and, as exemplified by the video, all of the things that are clearly not clear, shouldn't we be taking another hard look about where this investigation failed the commissioner?"
Smith believes some of the NFL's evidence supporting proof of a bounty system is flawed and that suspended players Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, Scott Fujita and Jonathan Vilma is questionable at the very least.
"Virtually everyone is wondering whether this process has been fair and whether we've achieved our goal of finding the truth," Smith said. "We shouldn't be in a world where players are being punished for something that is inconclusive and unclear."
Smith also continues to maintain that the players did not intentionally seek to injure players on opposing teams for monetary gain, nor was the investigation fair and complete.
"It's inconsistent with what our players stand for," Smith said. "It's inconsistent with everything we've done to make this game safer."
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