Three Years After Bullying Scandal, Incognito Still Won't Take Martin's Calls
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — The Miami Dolphins 'bullygate' scandal isn't a headline grabber anymore but that doesn't mean it's completely disappeared from the minds of fans and media members alike.
Richie Incognito says Jonathan Martin reached out to him several times in the aftermath of the bullying scandal that sabotaged the Dolphins' 2013 season, but Incognito has no interest in talking.
The two were teammates in the Dolphins' offensive line and at the center of the scandal.
Incognito is now a guard for the Buffalo Bills, who play the Dolphins on Sunday. In a conference call Wednesday with the South Florida media, Incognito said he has kept in touch with Dolphins players and Joe Philbin, who was their coach then.
But he never patched up differences with Martin, once a close friend.
"Zero conversation with Jonathan Martin," Incognito said. "He has reached out and tried to speak a few times, but I have nothing to say."
Martin retired last year. He posted on Facebook that difficulties in the profession led him to attempt suicide multiple times.
An NFL investigation found that Incognito and two teammates engaged in persistent harassment directed at Martin, who left the team midseason in 2013. Incognito was suspended for the final eight games and sat out the 2014 season before joining the Bills.
Incognito described the Dolphins situation as surreal and a circus.
"The whole incident went down (and) I'm a pariah in the national media and basically turned radioactive there for a few months," he said. "Jonathan and I were close friends. I cared about him. If anybody was there for Jonathan, it was me. And Jonathan had his troubles. He had his demons, like we all do. He left for whatever reason and he handled it the way he did, and then really the story kind of takes on a life of its own."
As for Incognito's role in the scandal?
"I'm not saying I was a saint," he said, "but I sleep well at night knowing what I did."
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