If you haven’t been following the very messy story, NFL player Richie Incognito was suspended indefinitely from the Miami Dolphins after reports and allegations from The Miami Herald and ESPN suggested that he bullied fellow player and rookie Jonathan Martin so much, he chose to take a leave of absence.
But now in a new interview with FOX Incognito calls Jonathan Martin his best friend on the Miami Dolphins and even says he’s worried about him, despite Martin’s allegations being the cause of his suspension.
Incognito talked today for the first time about the scandal … with FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer.
He tells Glazer:
“I’ve taken stuff too far. I did not intend to hurt him,”
The baller adds:
“What I was going for … I hadn’t seen my buddy. I wanted to shock him. I wanted him to call me back. When the words are put out of context, I understand why a lot of eyebrows are raised. What people don’t know how Jon and I communicate to one another.
“A week before this went down, Jonathan Martin texted me, ‘I will murder your whole (expletive) family. Now did I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit. I know it was coming from a brother. I knew it was coming from a friend. I knew it was coming from a teammate. That puts in context how we communicate with one another.”
However the most interesting of the whole interview was Incognito refusing to answer questions on whether the Dolphins’ coaching staff instructed Incognito to “toughen up” Martin.
YIKES!
But he went on to say:
“This is an issue of my and John’s relationship,” Incognito said. “You can ask anybody in the Miami Dolphins locker room, ‘who had John Martin’s back the absolute most?’ And they will undoubtedly tell you me.
“All of this stuff coming out, just, it speaks to the culture of our locker room, it speaks to the culture of our closeness, it speaks to the culture of our brotherhood. And the racism, the bad words, um, you know, that’s what I regret most, but that’s a product of the environment, that’s something that we use all the time.”
Ugh… so messy.
The interview with Richie is set to air tomorrow on FOX NFL Sunday during the pregame show, so we’ll have to wait and see what else he says.
SOURCE: NFL
