A scathing 144-page report paints Richie Incognito as a vulgar, insensitive bully who repeatedly directed his venom at Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin — but Incognito didn’t do it alone.
The independent investigation by attorney Ted Wells “rejects any suggestion that Martin manufactured claims of abuse after the fact to cover up an impetuous decision to leave the team.”
Incognito earlier this week in a series of ranting tweets defended himself, but Wells’ report, released Friday morning, concludes Incognito and two other starters on the Miami offensive line — Mike Pouncey and John Jerry — participated in “a pattern of harassment directed at not only Jonathan Martin but also another young Dolphins offensive lineman and an assistant trainer.”
Martin was so distraught he left the team in October and Incognito was subsequently suspended by the Dolphins, a situation that erupted into a national debate and behind-the-curtain look into the inner-workings of an NFL locker room, with Incognito labeled as either a bad seed or a player engaging in “tough love,’’ and Martin characterized as a victim or a young player who was too sensitive and too soft.
Clearly, Wells’ report vindicates Martin — the only hint of criticism is that Martin should have told the Dolphins of the abuse — and portrays Incognito as a profane, homophobic lout. The report says the Dolphins trainer was the object of repeated racial slurs and the other unnamed player was subjected to “homophobic name-calling and improper physical touching.’’
Martin was subjected to “a pattern of harassment” and “taunted on a persistent basis with sexually explicit remarks about his sister and his mother and at times ridiculed with racial insults and other offensive comments’’ by Incognito, Pouncey and Jerry.
The report could end Incognito’s NFL career, because it seems unlikely any team will deem him fit for employment. The report makes it clear Incognito “can fairly be described as the main instigator’’ and that he “to a great extent … dictated the culture’’ in the Dolphins locker room.
Incognito’s attorney, Mark Schamel, ripped the report, responding in a statement: “Mr. Wells’ NFL report is replete with errors. … It is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising. The truth, as reported by the Dolphins players and as shown by the evidence, is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the Dolphins Offensive line.”
Incognito used Twitter on Friday to take a shot at Wells, writing: “You could not define me in 144 years let alone 144 pages Mr Wells. Thank you for your hard work and dedication.”
He later signed off the social media site, writing: “Goodbye twitter. Be well. See you on the other side.”
A particularly difficult section of the report details text messages from Martin to his parents in the months leading up to his departure from the team. These texts were included for public consumption to “corroborate his account that the persistent harassment by his teammates caused him significant emotional distress.”
In one text to his mother, Martin writes “I figured out a major source of my anxiety. I’m a push over, a people pleaser … I let people talk about me, say anything to my face, and I just take it, laugh it off, even when I know they are intentionally trying to disrespect me.’’ Martin goes on to blame “the soft schools I went to’’ and admits “I’m awkward around people a lot of the time.’’
In a later text to his father, Martin relates that Incognito called him a “N—er’’ and all he did was laugh it off “because I am too nice of a person. They say terrible things about my sister. I don’t do anything. I suppose it’s white private school conditioning, turning the other cheek.’’
Martin’s father responded by saying he too had “punked out many times’’ in the face of racial abuse but eventually “I learned how to pop a bully in his mouth and kicked one in his balls.’’
The report states coach Joe Philbin and the Dolphins front office did not know about the abuse Martin was taking, but the report does not exonerate offensive line coach Jim Turner or his assistant, Chris Mosley (who left the team in October).
Incognito is accused of joking in a text with an unnamed teammate about shooting “black people’’ and tried to destroy evidence by asking Pouncey and other offensive linemen to destroy a fine book Incognito kept detailing whenever he fined a teammate for cracking under pressure. The assistant trainer mentioned in the report was the target of repeated racial abuse because of his Asian-American heritage.
The report concludes Incognito and the others did not intend to drive Martin away from the team or cause “lasting emotional injury’’ but that “the harassment by Martin’s teammates was a contributing factor in his decision to leave the team.’’