Richie Incognito is still in the process of defending himself against bullying accusations from former Miami Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin. Believe it or not, text messages that were sent between the two may actually help Incognito make his case.
Incognito recently hired high-profile public relations firm Strick & Co. to help him refute allegations made by Martin. His lawyers have also turned over information to the NFL that they believe shows Martin is a troubled person who sent vulgar and inappropriate texts to Incognito.
“The coarse and unacceptable comments and text messages that were sent to Jonathan Martin were of the same poor taste as those sent by him,” Incognito’s attorney Mark Schamel told Fox News on Thursday. “All of these communications were provided to Ted Wells and the NFL investigation. What they show is banter between friends, not bullying.
“Jonathan Martin sent text messages to Richie Incognito which included threats to send someone over to Richie Incognito’s home with a ‘tranquilizer gun and sandpaper condoms’ to homosexually rape him. Jonathan Martin sent another that said he would ‘kill (Richies’s) whole family.’ There was another where Jonathan Martin indicated he would ejaculate in Richie’s face.”
We all know about the texts Incognito reportedly sent Martin that said nasty things about his mother and sister and the threatening voicemail he left. But did Martin let Incognito know that he was crossing the line?
In a text conversation on Dec. 17, 2012, Martin reportedly told Incognito, “Ima egg your house & light a bag of s— on fire then ring your doorbell.” Incognito wrote back a minute later and said, “I’m going to shoot you and claim self-defense … Im white ur black I’ll walk.”
After that, Martin wrote that he was going to “give McDonald bath salts & lock him in your house with a tranquilizer gun & a box of sand paper condoms.” Incognito responded “hahaha” a minute later.
Incognito’s lawyers claim that Martin was missing meetings and having trouble keeping up with life in the NFL. Incognito claims Martin walked out on the team shortly after he told him he was worried he was going to lose his starting job. Incognito’s camp also provided text messages that they say indicate Martin may have been using drugs.
On June 13, 2013, Incognito sent Martin a text message asking him what he did last night.
“Smoked for the first time in 5 months,” Martin replied.
“Nice! We’re u ripped?” Incognito asked.
“Yeah bro haha,” Martin said.
In another conversation that took place in August, Incognito asked Martin if he wanted to go out for “dinner and drinks” with two female friends. Martin wrote back, “My friend Mary Jane has me glued to the couch” and Incognito responded by calling him a “f—ing stoner.”
Martin’s spokeswoman Ann Marchant claims it is more accurate to look at the entire series of texts and that Martin was simply trying to “fit in” with the team with the way he was interacting with Incognito.
The more we hear, the more it sounds like a legitimately possibility that Incognito was unaware Martin felt bullied. Did he say some inappropriate things that should not have been said? Probably, but Martin seemed to fire right back. Plenty of friends talk to each other like that. If Martin can prove that he asked Incognito to stop or told him it was making him feel uncomfortable, that would be a different story. As of now, skepticism is starting to build.
