New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma says that he will play Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Vilma, who has been embroiled in the bounty scandal, says that he will come off the physically unable to perform list after a lengthy battle with a knee injury.
"I'll be allowed to practice, I'll be allowed to play versus Tampa Bay (Sunday)," Vilma said, according to WVUE-TV in New Orleans.
However, sources close to the Saints say the team has "no idea" whether Vilma will be activated off the PUP list to make his season debut Sunday.
The plan is to evaluate his practice this week and determine his readiness before determining whether to activate him from the exempt list.
Vilma was suspended for one season for his role in the Saints bounty scandal, but the penalty was vacated on a technicality.
Vilma's lawyers filed a 29-page motion Monday in a New Orleans court to vacate his season-long suspension, seeking "to put a halt to the ongoing and fundamentally unfair treatment of Jonathan Vilma by ... Roger Goodell."
Vilma also asks U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan to bar Goodell from handling any further action in the bounty matter and appoint a neutral arbitrator.
"Goodell's manifest bias and partiality is palpable, reflected in his many judgmental, accusatory and unsupported public accusations against Vilma and manifested in a procedure he has invoked which rips at the heart of any notion of fundamental fairness and due process in order to punish Vilma for acts he did not commit," the motion reads.
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