But the more I follow the story, talk to sources in
Miami, and hear current and former Dolphins almost unanimously support
Incognito, it makes me wonder whether perhaps there is no hero in this
story — only two teammates embroiled in an ugly mess that could end both
of their NFL careers.
The story is being presented in black-and-white terms — Incognito is a
racist bully, Martin a helpless victim — but I wonder whether the key
color in this is green.
Martin left the Dolphins on Oct. 28, a day after they lost to the
Patriots, and went home to California to be with family and seek
counseling. Later in the week, it was reported that the Dolphins would
put Martin on the “non-football illness” list so they could free up his
roster spot.
When a player is placed on the NFI list — and this is important —
his team doesn’t have to pay his weekly salary. Martin, making a little
more than $607,000 this year in base salary, would have forfeited
$35,733 for every week he was on the NFI list.
So yes, it’s fair to ask: Did Martin go AWOL without realizing the
financial consequences, and now his people — most likely his agents —
are trying to clean up the mess?
Certainly, Martin was teased and picked on a lot by his teammates.
And there’s no defending Incognito here. But while I’m certain that
Martin had had enough of Incognito’s wisecracks, I’m skeptical that was
the sole reason he left the team.
Perhaps the prospect of being switched off left tackle before the
Patriots game, after hearing from fans and media since March that he
wasn’t good enough to play the position, played a part. Perhaps the
team’s four-game losing streak contributed to his stress. Perhaps there
are a number of behind-the-scenes issues in the locker room and in his
private life that we don’t know about.
But none of those reasons would help Martin keep earning his game
checks. Painting him as the victim of racism and bullying, however . . .
?
The Dolphins publicly stood behind Incognito and called reports of
bullying “speculation” well into Sunday afternoon. Then on Sunday
evening, the team got hold of at least one voicemail and some text
messages from Incognito to Martin, reversed course, and suspended
Incognito indefinitely.
The story got amplified Monday when Martin’s camp made public the
content of a voicemail. The voicemail, presumably sent to Martin in
April, has Incognito using all kinds of vile, hateful language,
including disgusting uses of the N-word.
Once the content of the voicemail hit the media, that may have ended
Incognito’s football career. Who wouldn’t side with Martin for leaving
the team?
But something doesn’t sit right with the public airing of the
voicemails, and the timing of it all. Did Martin purposely save the
voicemails, or is he the type of kid who has 75 messages on his phone?
And after all the nasty things Incognito said to Martin, the final straw
was a relatively harmless cafeteria prank last week, in which teammates
switched tables when Martin sat down to join them at lunch?
Perhaps the hazing Martin endured was so intense that he felt he had
no recourse other than to leave the team and expose Incognito. Or are
Martin and his agents perhaps using Incognito as a scapegoat to justify
Martin leaving the team while still collecting his salary?
If so, Martin’s camp picked the perfect guy to blame. Incognito was
once voted the NFL’s dirtiest player, he has few friends outside the
Miami locker room, and now he is reported as using racist epithets.
You’ll notice the Dolphins did not put Martin on the NFI list, and
he’s still drawing his salary. The team’s PR nightmare would have been
even worse had it withheld pay from a player perceived to be the victim
of racist bullying.
But I think it’s hardly a coincidence that nearly every current and
former teammate has supported Incognito, and I don’t think it’s just
because of the “meathead football mentality.” Every player in the league
faces enormous pressures — money problems, family problems, injury
problems, mental problems, and the pressures of having to fight for your
job every day.
Many players in the Dolphins locker room aren’t angry that Martin
snapped — they think he isn’t taking responsibility for his problems and
is just trying to blame it all on Incognito.
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