The hits keep on coming for exiled Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito.
One day after the attorney for Incognito’s former teammate, Jonathan Martin, delivered a scathing statement implicating Miami teammates for physical attacks on Martin and for making sexual verbal threats toward his sister, an ESPN report quoted a source describing Incognito as “shocked’’ and “betrayed’’ by Martin’s claims of harassment.
Incognito was suspended by the Dolphins indefinitely last Sunday for conduct detrimental to the team after Martin presented evidence — including threatening voice mails and text messages — to the team, the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
“It’s probably a combination of totally blindsided and a bit betrayed,” the source told ESPN of Incognito’s current state of mind. “He’s shocked. He can’t believe this happened and thinks it probably could have been avoided.”
Meanwhile, more negative information surfaced about Incognito on Friday.
– A Sports Illustrated report quoted a former Dolphins guard who was a rookie with Martin in 2012, saying Incognito broke a “code’’ and took his alleged hazing on Martin too far.
– A Los Angeles Times report quoted former NFL tight end Cam Cleeland, who played with Incognito in St. Louis, calling his former teammate a “scumbag.’’
– A report surfaced saying Incognito conducted offensive line meetings in a South Florida strip joint, something some of his line mates, including Martin, wanted no part of.
– ESPN conducted a survey of 72 NFL players, who were granted anonymity, asking, “Which player, Incognito or Martin, would they rather have as a teammate?’’ Fifteen of the players (20.8 percent) said they’d prefer Incognito, 34 (47.2 percent) said they would prefer Martin and 23 of them (31.9 percent) said they’d prefer neither.
There also were multiple reports stating Ted Wells, the independent attorney hired by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to head up the investigation on possible misconduct in the Dolphins workplace, is scheduled to meet with Martin late next week in California.
The most damning news of all came from Josh Samuda, a rookie with the Dolphins in 2012 before being released. He spoke of a “code’’ that allowed Dolphins veterans to do whatever they wanted to the rookies in training camp, but it had to cease once the season began.
Samuda said Incognito broke the code by harassing Martin beyond his rookie season.
“You pay your dues,’’ Samuda said. “You prove you can play and then you don’t get joked on, don’t get s–t on. But you have to prove your status.”
Samuda, who indicated Martin did not earn the respect of his peers, specifically Incognito, said Martin not wanting to be a part of a Las Vegas trip with the offensive linemen rubbed Incognito the wrong way and Incognito asked Martin to pay $15,000 to cover Martin’s share of a private jet and other expenses Incognito fronted.
“I would say it was an insult to the other guys that he didn’t want to go,” Samuda said. “The core guys go on that trip, and as someone who started, he should have gone. It stood out that he didn’t go.”
Martin apparently did not want to go to Incognito’s strip club meetings, and Incognito would reportedly fine players who did not attend, according to the National Football Post, citing two sources.
“Richie wanted to set up Richie’s world as a way for everybody to act,” a team source told the National Football Post. “Richie thinks everybody should act that way. He doesn’t get that some guys aren’t into that behavior. Some guys don’t want to constantly explain to their wife or girlfriend why they have to go to a strip club.”
Cleeland, who played with Incognito for two years with the Rams, told the L.A. Times: “I’m not afraid to say that [Incognito] was an immature, unrealistic scumbag. When it came down to it, he had no personality, he was a locker-room cancer, and he just wanted to fight everybody all the time. It was bizarre beyond belief.”
Cleeland, who played seven NFL seasons with the Saints, Patriots and Rams, is sensitive when it comes to hazing, because when he was a rookie with the Saints, he was hit in the eye with a coin-filled sock, which significantly damaged his vision.
Martin, a second-year player out of Stanford, is with his family in California, where he is undergoing counseling for emotional issues. His lawyer, David Cornwell, released a statement Thursday that said Martin endured “harassment that went far beyond traditional locker room hazing.”