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"I was at the meeting with the NFL's lead investigators in March. She was not there," Smith said. "Anyone, especially former prosecutors like both of us, know that what the league provided could never be called 'substantial evidence' of player participation in a pay-to-injure program.
"Worse yet, Mary Jo provided nothing new or compelling today beyond another press briefing."
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and Domonique Foxworth, the recently elected union president, are in New Orleans talking with Saints players. The four current and former New Orleans players suspended -- linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the 2012 season; defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, now with Green Bay, for eight games; defensive end Will Smith, for four games; linebacker Scott Fujita, now with Cleveland and a member of the union's executive board, for three games -- were given three days to appeal when Commissioner Roger Goodell handed down the punishment Wednesday.
The NFLPA did not say when appeals might be filed, but said after the penalties were handed down that it would pursue all options on the Saints players' behalf. When asked on his Twitter account if he planned to appeal, Vilma said: "definitely."
[Associated Press;
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