Former Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito went on a tweet spree Sunday after former Miami teammate Jonathan Martin, whom he was accused of bullying in a scandal that led to Incognito being suspended by the NFL, told ESPN that he never felt bullied.
“He couldn’t cut it in the NFL so he quit and his mom blamed me. Legacy media pushed this narrative long and far,” Incognito tweeted. “Too bad it was all a lie! They lied to protect his money. He quit… the team had every right to claw back that money. His mom started the bullying narrative with @espn @AdamSchefter so that @MiamiDolphins wouldn’t go after his signing bonus!”
Incognito received an indefinite suspension to close out the 2013 season and did not play in 2014 after being accused of harassing Martin, who was a second-round draft pick in 2012.
A 144-page report by NFL investigator Ted Wells on Bullygate said that Martin has received a “pattern of harassment” which included racial slurs and sexual texts aimed at family members by Incognito, along with then-Dolphins and fellow offensive linemen John Jerry and Mike Pouncey.
Martin, though, told ESPN last March of the Wells report that “it’s my greatest regret of my life to this day is participating in that clown show.”
His mother became involved in the situation and while Martin said “she wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt me,” he now feels his mother had a different “read on the situation” than he did.
“I never believed for a second I was being bullied,” Martin told ESPN. “It’s a story that I’ve been trying to fix for 10 years.”
Incognito used these comments from ESPN to attempt to vindicate himself, while also taking shots at Martin’s family and reporters along the way.
“Made up by Johnathan Martin’s mother and father!” he wrote in response to a post claiming the bullying story was “all made up.”
He accused Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio of attempting to ruin his career, while also lashing out at ESPN’s Adam Schefter and the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad.
“You tried to ruin my career over a lie! A decade later Jonathan Martin admits he was never bullied. His mother pushed the narrative of bullying to the media,” Incognito tweeted to Florio. “Jonathan Martin never believed in the stance his camp was taking during the Ted Wells investigation. The NFL and the media ran with a false narrative, ruined careers, and moved on. @ProFootballTalk.”
Incognito, who played for the Dolphins from 2010-13, also posted four shots with him alongside Martin where he mocked the idea that he had bullied him.
One showed Martin and Incognito pointing at Pouncey while he wore a blanket in a buggy in Indianapolis, another with the pair and an undisclosed person holding alcohol bottles, a third with Martin, Incognito and Pouncey and the final one with Pouncey and Incognito seemingly out a bar.
While Martin may feel differently now than he did more than a decade ago, Incognito still is accused of some horrific actions.
Martin’s father, Gus, played to ESPN an alleged voicemail Incognito left his son in 2013 which states: “Hey, wassup, you half-n—-r piece of s–t. I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. I’ll s–t in your f–king mouth. I’m going to slap your f–king mouth, I’m going to slap your real mother across the face [laughter]. F–k you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.”
