Jeremy Shockey denies Warren Sapp claim he snitched on Saints

In the wake of the devastating penalties levied against the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday for carrying out a bounty program in which defensive players were rewarded for hurting opposing players and putting them out of games, one question arose: Who told the NFL about it?

Former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp says he knows. Sapp took to Twitter on Wednesday and said it was former Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey.

Shockey denied it was him, telling Yahoo Sports, “It’s reckless, it’s careless, it’s hurtful to me and the great time I had with the Saints. Sean Payton is a father figure to me. I would never do that to him or to the Saints.”

Payton, the Saints’ coach, was suspended for one year without pay Wednesday for his part in the bounty program.

Sapp maintained it was Shockey in an interview late Wednesday on the NFL Network, telling Rich Eisen:

“I was sitting in the production meeting getting ready for the day and my source informed me that Jeremy Shockey was the snitch initially. So I went with that. I trust my source unequivocally because he is right on top of the situation.”

Eisen told Sapp that the league said it had not spoken with Shockey, to which Sapp responded: “I did not call anybody at the league and ask them a thing and did not receive any information from them. That’s the information I got and I trust my source.”

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Warren Sapp: Jeremy Shockey snitched on Saints bounty program