Revisiting Richie Incognito

Remember Richie Incognito? A month ago, the Miami Dolphin offensive guard (who happens to be white) was front page sports news for his alleged hazing of offensive tackle teammate Jonathan Martin (who happens to be black). The speculation ran wild amongst the knee-jerkers. Incognito was a racist, bigot, bully, you name it.

Then a few more details started to trickle out, and the waters got muddied in a hurry. It turned out Martin wasn't exactly squeaky clean with a few actions of his own in Incognito's direction. Further complicating the matter was the insinuation that the Dolphins' coaching staff may have encouraged Incognito, a veteran, to "toughen up" Martin, barely in his second year in the league. If so, perhaps they perceived Martin as being "soft", not a trait considered admirable amongst the behemoths that are offensive linemen in the NFL. A few well-publicized text messages aside, both ways, nobody seems to know for sure all of what transpired between two guys that, combined, would tip the scales at well over 600 lbs.

In the meantime, the Miami Dolphin organization itself has wisely had "no comment", deferring all such questions on the matter to the league, which is supposedly investigating. The NFL has even summoned a high-priced legal-eagle, noted defense attorney Ted Wells, to get to the bottom of this mess. Wells has made his name in other areas of the law representing high-profile clients, but they seemed to come from political venues. How Mr. Wells will fare sorting out the behind the scenes intracacies of an NFL locker room dispute remains to be seen. And it's not like he has a "client". Nobody's been formally charged with anything, so far.

For his alleged activties towards Martin, Incognito was suspended indefinitely by the Dolphins. He remains so to this day. But just recently, an agreement was reached between Incognito and the team. He will continue to be on suspension, but also get paid.

Far be it from yours truly to say who's culpable in this whole mess, but if I'm Richie Incognito, life is pretty good right now, at least in one respect. He has a guaranteed contract of about $3.5 million this year. Divide that by 16 game checks, and he's still making a pretty hefty weekly wage for doing nothing. No practices, no getting hammered during games by rushing defensive tackles, no nothing. Bet you wish you had a job like that. I know I do. A couple of those game checks would tide me over rather nicely for quite a while.

But let's not forget Martin either. He went on a  "leave of absence" when this whole mess started, and has since been placed on the Dolphins "non-injury" football list, whereby the team can choose to pay whatever portion of his remaining $607,000 salary they want. All of it, none of it, or anything in between. Yours truly suspects the Dolphins will pony up all of it. Because if they don't, and word leaks, as it surely would, that the original alleged "bully" was getting paid, while the alleged "victim" was being financially penalized -- well -- how do you think the media would run with that? Regardless, being placed on the non-injury football list disqualified Martin from playing for the rest of the season. Many think his career is over with the Dolphins, and they're likely right. How he will be perceived by other teams, much less welcomed in their locker rooms, also remains to be seen. By crying foul on Incognito, a teammate that he once lined up next to, Martin may well have made himself a tough sell to other GMs around the league looking for an offensive tackle.

Whether he plays again in 2013 or not, Incognito will be a free agent after this year. It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins attempt to resign him, or what other teams may or may not offer him. It presents a paradox of sorts. Everybody's down on bullies these days -- but that's exactly what an offensive lineman has to be in order to be successful on the field. Trash the other guy across the line that he's locking horns with on any given play. In that respect, Incognito is a 9 year veteran and remains highly thought of for his on-field abilities.

On the other hand is Jonathan Martin. As not much more than a rookie, he didn't exactly distinguish himself on the field of play. And there were those that said he wimped out when the going got tough. That included not only other players around the league, but some on his own team, many of whom are black as well. So as much as some are always looking for a way to play the "race card" -- they can forget about that. It doesn't apply.

Good luck sorting all this out Mr. Wells. But I don't think your efforts will really matter. The NFL may be a lot of things, but in the end, it's a high-priced meat market. Besides skill and stats, it's all about toughness, playing through pain, and what have you done for me lately?

Methinks Richie Incognito will be playing again in 2014. If not for the Dolphins, some other team.

Jonathan Martin? Not so sure. Amongst the big guys in the trenches -- whining is frowned upon. Whatever it was -- personal or otherwise -- handle it. And if you can't handle it, then keep it in the family. The team will sort it out internally. Do NOT go public.

But Martin did. A good idea to get a lot of attention from the media, but likely a bad idea for his career.

We'll see how it all shakes out.........