Updated May 18, 2012 @ 12:30 p.m. ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, claiming the league's top executive made false statements that tarnished Vilma's reputation and hindered his ability to earn a living playing football.

Suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has sued NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation, according to a ProFootballTalk report.

If you thought that New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was going to take his year-long suspension for his alleged part in the Saints' bounty scandal lying down ... well, think again. Just one day after the Saints got their day in front of an arbitrator to appeal their penalties, Vilma filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (and not the NFL as an entity). [ Rewind: Jonathan Vilma suspended for '12 season for role in Saints bounty system ] The suit claims that "Goodell, speaking publicly about certain Saints executives, coaches and players, in relation to  purported efforts designed to injure opposing players, made public statements concerning Vilma which were false, defamatory and injurious to Vilma's professional and personal reputation." The suit reviews the public statements Goodell has made about Vilma and other Saints players, coaches and executives, and it gets specific about statements made about Vilma. Goodell, in the March 2 Club Report, also alleged that "prior to a Saints playoff  game in January, 2010, defensive captain Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 in cash to any player  who knocked [opposing quarterback Brett] Favre out of the game." ("Favre Allegation.") Goodell knew and intended that the contents of the March 2 Club Report would be disseminated publicly. The contents of the March 2 Club Report, including the Favre Allegation, were reported, and continue to be reported, by essentially every major news organization, as Goodell intended. Upon information and belief, Goodell told others that Vilma placed $10,000 in cash on a table during a team meeting in making the alleged offer concerning Favre. The suit then goes on to claim the lack of evidence made available by Goodell and the league, despite repeated requests by the Saints organization, Vilma's attorney Peter Ginsberg, and the NFLPA. Goodell did not reveal, and, despite repeated requests from among others, Vilma, has never revealed, any evidence purportedly corroborating that a Bounty Program existed, that Vilma participated in any such Bounty Program. And if that is true, that's where things could get sticky for the NFL, especially since Goodell has said that he may make some of the evidence public record at some point in time . The players and NFLPA are clearly frustrated by what they perceive to be Goodell's continuing efforts to try this case in the court of public opinion, while denying those accused and penalized the right and ability to review the evidence and statements against them. In an interview Shutdown Corner conducted with NFLPA lead outside counsel Richard Smith on May 4, Smith's frustration with the process was palpable, leading us to believe that as much as this lawsuit may actually be about implied damages to Vilma's professional and personal reputation, it's also an attempt to facilitate the discovery process the players and NFLPA has claimed to want all along.

An early look at the market has these players undervalued entering the summer.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is auctioning off his 1991 Super Bowl championship ring.

"We wanted something a little more modest," New York Giants captain Zak DeOssie said of the team's Tiffany diamond and sapphire encrusted Super Bowl XLVI rings , which players received in a private ceremony in Manhattan on Wednesday night. Justin Tuck wasn't into humility. "Stray [former Giant Michael Strahan] talked about the 10 table ring," Tuck said in a statement released by the team. "He wanted a ring you could see from 10 tables away. I talked about the restaurant ring. I wanted one that was big enough to see throughout whatever restaurant you go in and see it from each corner." Tuck wins. [ Related: Former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor's Super Bowl ring up for auction ] Each ring features four Marquis diamonds in four Lombardi trophies (to represent the franchise's four titles), 37 blue sapphires and the dates of each Super Bowl title in franchise history. The inside of the rings include the words "finish" and "all in," psych-up words used by the team during its 2011 title run. The shanks have the score of this year's victory over the New England Patriots, the player's name and number, and the dates of New York's other Super Bowl triumphs. The team had some input in the design of the ring. Most specifically, players wanted the color blue to be incorporated. Their last Super Bowl ring was white gold and diamonds and looked like it could belong to the New Orleans Saints. "The blue makes it a little different," Eli Manning said. "We wanted some blue -- the Giants are Big Blue. We definitely wanted to get a little blue to spark it up a little bit." More sports news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute: Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: • Saints' Jonathan Vilma sues Roger Goodell for defamation • Rays' Will Rhymes OK after getting hit by pitch and fainting • Shine: Boy allowed back on all-girls field-hockey team

UPDATE : It's evidently Lawrence Taylor's son who is selling the ring. Jay Glazer reports, via Twitter, that Taylor gave the ring to his son years ago. Here are the tweets: Lawrence Taylor just reached out to me through a mutual friend re the auction of his SB ring. Taylor had ZERO clue this was happening! Years ago he gave his rings to his son TJ, who apparently put it up LT wasn't aware at all that his son had put it up for auction. However, he had no problem with it bc he feels they are now his sons property His longtime rep Mark Lepselter said he talked w LT who said, "Lawrence was in fact unaware of it but said he gave it to TJ (his son) and its his right to do what he wants with it. He's fine with whatever TJ decided." --- That big shiny ring you see above contains 18 diamonds , including the big two in the middle, which total more than 1.5 carats. It was earned as the crowning achievement of a life spent being a revolutionary defensive force in the National Football League. And today, any clod with enough disposable income can own it . It belongs (soon to be past tense) to Lawrence Taylor. Why he's selling is unclear, but Taylor is not known for his wise post-career decisions . If it's on the auction block, it's probably safe to assume he needs the money. From Bloomberg News : Neither the auction website nor the release makes any mention about Taylor's motives for selling. Mike Senyo, a spokesman for SCP Auctions, said in an e-mail that the linebacker is "just ready to sell." Taylor earned two Super Bowl rings in his career, in XXI and XXV. Who knows, maybe this one doesn't mean that much to him. Maybe the first one is a treasured memento and this one's an afterthought. Click on through for more details on the ring.

Traditionally a run-first team, the New York Giants last season had the fifth-ranked passing offense in the National Football League. However, a key piece of Big Blue's passing game, Mario Manningham, signed on with the San Francisco 49ers in the offseason. The Giants are going to miss Manningham, who forever will be remembered for his epic sideline catch to jump-start New York's game-winning touchdown drive in Super Bowl XLVI. However, the G-Men have a few worthy candidates to replace Super Mario in the lineup in 2012. Here are four possibilities.

Giants Hall of Famer will part with jewelry