Anthony Hargrove is facing an eight-game ban for his role in the "bounty" scandal, but add the Green Bay Packers defensive end to the list of current and former New Orleans Saints questioning the league's evidence.
In a statement released to the league office on Friday, Phil Williams -- Hargrove's agent -- threw daggers at the league's case three days before Commissioner Roger Goodell is to hear the appeal of all four players who were disciplined.
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"Did you sincerely consider what you gave the NFLPA sufficient enough to tarnish men's careers and reputations?" Williams wrote in the statement, via ESPN.com. "If you believe the 'evidence' to be so substantial that you would espouse the 50,000-plus page file, why would most of those pages have zero to do with 'bounties' or even 'pay-for-performance?'
"Do you actually have any concrete evidence that any player from another team was injured as a result of a 'bounty' and that a player from the Saints was therefore paid accordingly? Can you honestly say that the Saints employed a 3-year 'bounty program' if no one was ever paid for a 'bounty?' Would that not constitute one of the worst followed programs ever witnessed?"
Williams' comments echo the sentiments of Peter Ginsberg, the New York litigator who is representing Jonathan Vilma, who was suspended for the entire 2012 season.
"The league provided no evidence to us in a timely manner," Ginsberg said Friday. "It has provided no evidence to corroborate the accusations, and yet the NFL furthermore has told us it doesn't plan to present any witness at the hearing."
The players have twice challenged Goodell's authority to hand out penalties in the "bounty" scandal, but arbitrators have ruled in the league's favor in both cases.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello had no comment on Williams' statement.