Nearly 12 years after former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito dominated NFL headlines with a bullying scandal, the story has resurfaced and reopened some old wounds.
Scabs have been ripped off, exposing hard feelings that still exist, at least from Incognito, who claims that reporting on the story threatened his NFL career.
During the 2013 season, the 6-foot-5, 315-pound Martin took a leave of absence from the Dolphins allegedly due to bullying and teasing from fellow offensive linemen that went back to the previous year, when he was a rookie. Reports indicated that the behavior directed at Martin went beyond rookie hazing and crossed a line with threats and racist remarks.
Incognito, then a seven-year veteran, was identified as the main culprit and the Dolphins eventually suspended him indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. He missed the remaining eight games of the season and after a report commissioned by the NFL determined Incognito and two teammates had regularly harassed Martin, he did not play the entire 2014 season.
Martin, now 35, returned to the headlines with an ESPN.com profile that caught up with him 10 years after he retired from the NFL. A Stanford alum, Martin is now pursuing an MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He’s still trying to put his football days in the past while moving on to another stage of his life.
However, in the ESPN story, he said, “I never believed for a second I was being bullied,” adding that he’s been trying to “fix” the story for 10 years.
He couldn’t cut it in the NFL so he quit and his mom blamed me. Legacy media pushed this narrative long and far. Too bad it was all a lie! They lied to protect his money. He quit… the team had every right to claw back that money. His mom started the bullying narrative with @espn… https://t.co/ifFFJPG1H7
— Richie Incognito (@68INCOGNITO) February 16, 2025
That admission by Martin sent Incognito on a social media crusade after the article was published on Sunday. The former lineman, who retired from the NFL after the 2020 season, went after ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, demanding responses to Martin’s comments after the two reported on Incognito’s role in the bullying scandal at the time.
“You tried to ruin my career over a lie!” Incognito wrote to the @ProFootballTalk X account. “You tried to ruin my life over this bulls***,” he responded to Schefter. You’ve always been bush league,” he said to Palm Beach Post reporter Joe Schad.
Incognito also posted several photos of him with Martin that appeared to be friendly and contrary to what he referred to as “the bullying narrative,” which he claimed was created by Martin’s parents.
“He couldn’t cut it in the NFL so he quit and his mom blamed me,” Incognito wrote in another post on X. “Legacy media pushed this narrative long and far. Too bad it was all a lie! They lied to protect his money. He quit… the team had every right to claw back that money. His mom started the bullying narrative with [Adam Schefter] so that [the Dolphins] wouldn’t go after his signing bonus!”
Incognito obviously feels he was wronged, though Martin’s remarks don’t necessarily absolve him of the abusive behavior that was reported. He went on to play three seasons with the Buffalo Bills, during which he was accused of using racial slurs against an opponent.
After sitting out the 2018 season, Incognito returned to play two seasons for the Las Vegas Raiders. During that span, he received a two-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy regarding an incident at an Arizona funeral home following his father’s death. Incognito officially announced his retirement from the NFL in 2022.
