Alan Donnes, a New Orleans native and author/filmmaker, identified former defensive quality control coach Mike Cerullo as a possible whistleblower in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal on America’s Radio News Network earlier Tuesday. Cerullo, currently an assistant to the football program at Connecticut, started working for the Saints in 2007 and was let go after their 2009 Super Bowl-winning season. Donnes described Cerullo as a frustrated former employee who felt that Sean Payton and Gregg Willams were somehow preventing him from finding a job elsewhere in the league.
Donnes, author of the 2007 book ”Patron Saints: How the Saints Gave New Orleans A Reason To Believe,” stated that he had more than one source for his information and believes his sources are accurate. This dovetails with a radio interview Darren Sharper did on WWL radio in Louisiana where he declared that the whistleblower was “someone that was formerly hired and that was formerly working for the Saints and that was relieved of his duties…” Sharper’s usage of the word “hired” would seem to imply that he believes the whistleblower was not a player, but a member of the Saints’ staff.
In any event, the focus now should not be on who the whistleblower was, but rather how the NFL can ensure that this type of rogue behind-the-scenes behavior never happens again.
