Miami Dolphins: A decade of controversy may finally come to an end

Jonathan Martin vs. Richie Incognito – October 30th, 2013

Nothing in the last ten years is more controversial than the Richie Incognito vs. Jonathan Martin bully-gate incident. When the dust finally settled, two people lose their jobs, a player was suspended, and mental stability issues became a major focal point for the league.

It would become known as “bully-gate”. Dolphins fans would learn of a “Wells Report” that would leave pages of communications between the two linemen open to interpretation. The Dolphins kicked Incognito off the field and Martin refused to return to the team.

On October 30th, Martin had enough and threw down his lunch tray and stormed out of the training facility. The event would open one of the biggest locker room stories in NFL history. A player who believed that he was being bullied by another player in and away from the facility.

Text messages were made public but nothing definitive ever made Incognito into the racist that Martin had claimed. Nothing supported Martin’s claim conclusively. In the end, the Dolphins fired their head trainer and their offensive line coach for conduct detrimental to the team.

Martin would leave the NFL for a couple of seasons and Martin would get traded to the 49’ers. A year later Martin was out of football for good and he would eventually land under medical care for underlying mental issues that were apparently present long before he came to Miami.

It was one of the darkest moments in Dolphins history and the worst moment of the last decade.