20 Biggest Cheaters In Sports How They Did It

New Orleans Saints'

The New Orleans Saints didn't gamble on winning or losing, but they did offer incentives to players to deliberately injure players of opposing teams between 2009-2011.

"Pay to Injure" Scheme

Greg Williams was hired by the New Orleans Saints on January 15, 2009. Head coach Sean Payton, who was heavily involved in the effort to recruit Williams to the team, raved about Williams "because he was so impressive and prepared" in his interview. In fact, Williams was so impressive that Payton offered and took a voluntary $250,000 cut in salary to help facilitate his signing with the team. He took over a Saints defense ranked 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed and tied for 26th in points allowed in 2008. Williams' approach yielded immediate results, as the 2009 Saints recorded 35 defensive takeaways, second in the league, and the aggressive defense played an integral role in the Saints' run to their first Super Bowl championship.

On March 2, 2012, it was revealed that during Williams' tenure, the Saints ran an illegal "bounty fund" which paid players for causing injuries to opponents that would result in those players leaving the game. The NFL found that Williams and as many as 27 Saints defensive players were involved in the scheme. An unidentified Saints player first alerted the NFL to the scheme in the 2010 offseason, but the investigation stalled until the NFL found irrefutable evidence of a bounty system just before the 2011–12 playoffs.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the ringleader of the scheme, is banned from football indefinitely. Head Coach Sean Peyton was suspended for a season.