Richie Incognito has been the talk of the NFL this week, with a number of coaches, players and analysts sharing their opinions on his alleged harassment of Miami Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin. Many people seem to share the opinion of New York Giants kicker Josh Brown, who played with Incognito in college at Nebraska and with the St. Louis Rams a few years back.
“None of it shocks me,” Brown said Monday, via the NY Daily News. “I don’t know any details obviously. The league hasn’t released anything. But Richie seems to be a person with a tortured soul. He’s had these issues for quite awhile, and it’s sad.
“It seems like this is something that has been haunting him for more than a decade. He was always a very emotional player, very reactive. Obviously, I have a lot of assumptions in my head about what was going on (in Miami), and I’m probably going to be right.”
There’s a fine line between playing with a chip on your shoulder and acting inappropriately, and Incognito has crossed it on numerous occasions. The video we saw on Monday of the 30-year-old stomping around with his shirt off speaks to what Brown was referring to.
Still, there are a few people who seem surprised by reports that Incognito left Martin a racially-charged voicemail and threatened to kill him. Arizona Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby, who played with Incognito in Miami, is one of them.
“Richie was a down-to-earth guy,” Dansby told Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic. “I hate all this came out about him. It’s really attacking his character. I hope Martin doesn’t have any backlash from this from the rest of his teammates.”
Incognito should be the one dealing with backlash, not Martin. In fact, you could argue that the situation may not have spiraled out of control if Incognito had to deal with backlash from his teammates and coaches sooner — or ever. It’s normal for players to want to defend teammates and former teammates, but Incognito hardly seems “down to earth.” He’s obviously a man with some issues.
