Incognito Speaks Out On Martin Case

While he didn’t say much, he said something.  Finally.  Richie Incognito the Miami Dolphins LG who is serving a suspension spoke for the first time about the voice mail message he left Jonathan Martin.

Speaking with Fox Sports Jay Glazer, Incognito admits to taking things too far but wonders why his friend is doing this.  Speaking on the voice mail, Incognito said that he was goofing around with Martin and told Glazer that they often exchanged messages of that nature. Incognito said he “wanted to make sure Martin called him back.”

He then stated that Martin had sent Incognito a “I am going to kill your entire bleeping family”.  Incognito said the two were like that.  Richie said he had called Martin shortly after he left the team to see if he was o.k.   Richie said that Martin texted him after the Bengals win that there was no problem with the team and congratulated them on the win.

Martin’s attorney has come to Martin’s defense saying that the text was actually a picture of a woman with a dog and a tag line across the top saying “I will murder your entire family”.   In other words he is saying the picture was not meant as a banter between two friends.

This case started off really odd and has progressed further into a crazy world.  Today Mike Silver of  NFL.com reported today that he is hearing that both Joe Philbin an Jeff Ireland will not “survive” this mess and will likely be replaced at the end of the year.  Of course the Dolphins head coach and GM will be hard to replace if they turn this season into a playoff birth.  Silver does not cite sources only that it’s a feeling around the NFL that many wonder why he still has a job at all as a GM.  That is counter to two executives I spoke with two different teams who said Ireland is tough but respected.  Both said that if Ireland is fired, he will land somewhere else and will thrive.

The third party investigation will begin this week and there is no timetable on it’s conclusion.

As to the news of the sexual battery against a woman at the team golf tournament, the Dolphins have stated they were aware of the incident and the incident was reported to the NFL in case of league conduct violations.  To what extent Incognito was punished if at all is unknown.