DAVIE, Fla. - Richie Incognito’s stall inside the Miami Dolphins locker room was loaded with packages, papers and plenty of football equipment Monday.
The sign was gone, though.
“There are two things Richie Incognito does not like,” read a small sign that until very recently adorned the front of the now-suspended Miami offensive lineman’s locker. On one line in small orange letters, the first entry on that list was “Taxes.” The second line, in larger black type, was “Rookies.”
“He’s a funny guy,” Dolphins cornerback Will Davis said Monday. “Everybody loves him.”
Maybe, maybe not. There’s not much to laugh about in the Dolphins’ locker room these days, not with offensive lineman Jonathan Martin having left the club to handle emotional issues. And Incognito, his alleged tormentor, since banished from the team in yet another entry on a long list of troubling events marring his playing career.
“None of it shocks me,” said New York Giants kicker Josh Brown, who played with Incognito in college at Nebraska and then with the St. Louis Rams. “Richie is … this seems to be a person with a tortured soul.”
Two people have told The Associated Press that Incognito sent Martin text messages that were threatening. The Dolphins suspended Incognito on Sunday night for conduct detrimental to the team; neither player was with the team Monday.
“I love Richie. I think he’s a great guy,” Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace said. “He’s an intense guy. Everybody knows that. I think he was just being Richie. I love playing with Richie. I wish he was here right now.”
Agents for the two players didn’t respond to requests for comment. Martin is with his family in Los Angeles for counseling.
Incognito’s checkered past is well-chronicled.
He was charged with assault, caught spitting on an opponent, kicked out of a game and reportedly restrained by teammates while trying to fight another - and that was just at Nebraska, which eventually got him kicked off the team. He tried to play at Oregon, and never even made it onto the practice field for the Ducks before getting banished again.
In the NFL, he’s been basically called one thing: a dirty player.
Said Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett:
“That’s just what he does. That’s his whole makeup is to play dirty and hurt guys. Everybody knows that. I just don’t understand how he got away with it for so long. I think the NFL really needs to buckle down on it now, because it’s bigger than trying to hurt other guys, you’re trying to hurt guys on your team, mentally. Which sometimes can actually be worse than hurting someone physically.”
Getting fined $50,000 for head-butting two opponents in 2009 prompted his departure from St. Louis. He was in Buffalo briefly, acknowledging that his reputation as “a less than model citizen” was deserved. And then he came to the Dolphins, where teammates eventually voted him onto the squad’s leadership council.
“I quite frankly did play dirty,” Incognito said in 2012, referring to his early NFL days. “And I would go after guys.”
He was talking about opponents. This time, he’s allegedly gone after a teammate.
Martin left the team last Monday after an incident in the dining room, which has been portrayed as a simple prank. Martin hasn’t been with the team since.
Then, on Sunday, Incognito posted several tweets lashing out at media reports and saying he wanted his name cleared.The Dolphins said they had no accusations from anyone to suggest misconduct had taken place. Afterward, one of Martin’s representatives reached out, and the team - which asked the NFL to investigate as well - suspended Incognito.
“I don’t look at him as being racist or anything like that,” newly acquired Dolphins offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie said. “It could have been in a joking manner. I don’t know how it was delivered or received. … When I got here he was a guy who had everybody laughing and told jokes. I didn’t really see the side being portrayed right now.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 11/05/2013