Alex Rodriguez doesn’t have many supporters left in his own sport. But he might have found one in the NFL.
Jonathan Vilma was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the entire 2012 season after the league ruled the linebacker helped run a bounty program with the Saints.
Like Rodriguez, Vilma fought the decision in court. He eventually had his ban overturned and played 11 games during the season.
Vilma defended Rodriguez’s decision to continue his legal fight with MLB after arbitrator Fredric Horowitz ruled Rodriguez would have to sit out all of 2014 following the appeal of his 211-game suspension for ties to Biogenesis and performance-enhancing drugs. Vilma said he hadn’t followed Rodriguez’s case closely, but was aware of some of the details.
“If he didn’t do it, I’m all for it,” Vilma told The Post at the Sheraton in Midtown, a hub of media activity around Super Bowl XLVIII. “Right now, he’s guilty unless he fights.”
“It’s a tough thing to do, especially when the league controls everything. It’s tough when people assume you’re guilty. It’s tough to prove and fight your way to innocence — and even then, people still don’t want to believe it. So I know what he’s going through.”
The decision to ban Vilma came in May 2012 after the league ruled he and other Saints teammates began a bounty program under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in 2009. Vilma denied the charge, and he was reinstated after his suspension was overturned in September.
Vilma was suspended by the league again in October for the rest of the 2012 season after meeting with Goodell, but former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue reviewed the suspension — along with those of other players implicated — and vacated Vilma’s punishment.
“I know it’s a difficult thing to do, but it doesn’t matter,” Vilma said. “That’s why if he didn’t do what he’s accused of, I would tell him keep fighting. Keep fighting till you can’t fight anymore. That’s the only way you can clear your name. Outside of that, when you look back 10 years from now, they’re gonna think ‘A-Rod and PEDs.’”
The odds are against Rodriguez getting his ban reduced, something Vilma acknowledged was true with his own case.
“It was a situation where you have the NFL, the commissioner, taking away your livelihood, your money, career, your legacy,” Vilma said. “Forget legacy, anything associated with Jonathan Vilma is gonna be associated with Bountygate. I’m still tied to it and always will be tied to it. But the good thing is, I was exonerated. It didn’t happen. I’m fine with that.”