In the first step towards punishing those responsible for OT Jonathan Martin’s meltdown, the Dolphins have suspended Richie Incognito. The official reasoning for the suspension was “conduct detrimental to the team”. When trying to figure out the main culprits of who caused Martin to abruptly leave practice, Incognito’s name constantly came up. Miami made a statement regarding the situation,
“We believe in maintaining a culture of respect for one another and as a result we believe this decision is in the best interest of the organization at this time. As we noted earlier, we reached out to the NFL to conduct an objective and thorough review. We will continue to work with the league on this matter.”
Stories have surfaced that show Incognito allegedly bullied Martin into doing whatever he wants. One incident includes Martin handing over $15,000 to help finance a trip to Las Vegas that Martin did not want to go to. Martin allegedly feared what would happen if he did not hand over the money. Trying to defend himself, Incognito sent this tweet out yesterday.
This is far from the first time Incognito has been in trouble. In 2012 he was voted the second dirtiest player, which says a lot considering he is an offensive tackle and most consider defensive players to be dirty. During a game against the Houston Texans, defensive lineman Antonio Smith swung a helmet at him after Smith alleged that Incognito was “playing dirty”. It is not just other players that have had problems with Incognito, but when he was with the St. Louis Rams, he was waived just days after getting into an argument with Steve Spagnuolo.
I doubt that Incognito is the only one to blame in this situation. The Dolphins coaching staff has to take some responsibility for this as well. If the alleged bullying and harassment was as bad as it sounds, the coaches had to have seen something going on. This clearly did not just happen over night to make Martin snap. Hopefully, Martin can clear his head and get back out on the field soon!
