re: Punishments handed down for Browns and Falcons

Bounty No Evidence Gate
On March 21, 2012, the NFL issued sanctions to Saints coaches and front-office personnel for their roles in the scandal.[55][56]

Williams was suspended indefinitely, and was banned from applying for reinstatement until the end of the 2012 season at the earliest.
Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, effective April 1. He is the first head coach in modern NFL history to be suspended for any reason.
Loomis was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season.
Vitt, who had been tabbed as a possible candidate to serve as interim coach in Payton's absence, was suspended for the first six games of the 2012 season.[16][20][57] (This did not automatically disqualify Vitt from serving as interim head coach per se, as his suspension was not effective until the regular season; the suspension terms allowed him to coach the team through training camp and the preseason, then return during Week 7. The Saints announced they would implement this scenario for 2012.)[58][59]

The Saints were also fined $500,000—the maximum fine permitted under the league constitution. Goodell also stripped the Saints of their second-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013 (their first-round pick in 2012 had already been traded to the New England Patriots, and therefore could not be taken away; after the penalty; the Saints' first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft is a third-rounder)[16][20] He also gave the league's clubs until March 30, 2012 to certify in writing that they do not have bounty programs. Clubs will also be required to certify that no bounty systems exist as part of the yearly certifications they must make under the league's Integrity of the Game Policy.[60]

quote:

---

Falcons lose a fifth-round draft pick and fined $350,000

---

In next year's draft. Essentially nothing.

I do not think they should have been punished harshly, but that seems very light.