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Shockey: Payton text proves I'm not a ‘rat'

by Heather Miller

Former Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey, accused this week by former NFL player and current NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp of being the snitch' that led to BountyGate and a one-year suspension for Saints head coach Sean Payton, tweets a text message from Payton that Shockey says clears his name. Former Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey shared on his Twitter account a warm text message exchange he had Wednesday with Saints head coach Sean Payton, a brief conversation that Shockey says should serve as final proof that he was not the whistleblower in the Saints illegal bounty system.

The NFL handed the Saints unprecedented punishments Wednesday following a two-year investigation into the Saints' bounty system, which found that Saints defensive players, under the direction of former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, were given incentive pay for injuring players from opposing teams.

Amid the controversial punishment announcement Wednesday, NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp told the Twitter world that the whistleblower who brought the scandal to light and prompted a one-year suspension for Payton and an indefinite suspension for Williams is Shockey.

But Shockey adamantly denies the accusations, according to The Bleacher Report, and he posted as proof a picture of a text message exchange between Shockey and Payton, during which Payton says "I know you had nothing to do with that stuff [Sapp] said."

Read the full release of the NFL's discipline against the Saints here.