Dolphins OL coach Jim Turner reportedly participated in harassing of a player

February 14, 2014

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Richie Incognito is going to have trouble finding employment after the smoke from the Jonathan Martin bully scandal clears, but the Miami Dolphins have plenty of problems of their own. The Ted Wells report that was released Friday concluded that Martin was a victim of harassment along with an unnamed teammate and assistant trainer. And one of the team’s coaches was reportedly doing some of the harassing.

The unnamed offensive lineman, or Player A, was reportedly a victim of a running joke that he was gay. Incognito, Mike Pouncey and John Jerry allegedly called Player A a “faggot” and used other homophobic language toward him on numerous occasions. Pouncey also physically restrained Player A one time and told Jerry to “come get some p—y,” to which Jerry responded by “touching Player A’s buttocks in a way that simulated anal penetration.”

Dolphins offensive line coach Jim Turner was reportedly aware of the running jokes against Player A. At a Christmas party in 2012, Turner is said to have given each offensive lineman on the team a gift bag that included female blow-up dolls. Player A was the only one who received a male blow-up doll.

Martin and another player reported that they were surprised Coach Turner did this; Martin further said that he was offended that Turner had endorsed the humiliating treatment of Player A by participating in it. Incognito and others agreed that this incident with Coach Turner occurred. When interviewed, Turner was asked if he gave Player A a male blow-up doll. He replied, ‘I can’t remember.’ We do not believe that Turner forgot this incident, which many others recalled.

The investigation also concluded that Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin was unaware of the mistreatment of Martin, Player A or the assistant trainer. Considering his players and at least one of his staff members were in on it, that is bad news for Philbin. On one hand, it’s a positive that Philbin didn’t know about the harassment and choose to ignore it. On the other, it shows negligence on his part.