Incognito, Martin, and Hazing in the NFL

As more is revealed about what really happened between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, there seems to be a growing divide between yesterday's NFL, today's NFL, and what it means to be a team. 

Suspended Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito sat down with Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer in an attempt to defend the way he treated former teammate Jonathan Martin this week. 

The embattled Incognito, who is accused of bullying Martin, sat down with Glazer to defend his actions. Incognito claims that the offensive language he used in text messages and
phone calls to Martin, which include racial slurs, is simply a part of the culture in NFL locker rooms.

Richie Incognito defends his alleged bullying of Jonathan Martin 

in an interview with Fox Sports' Jay Glazer

Boys Will Be Boys 

 Repeatedly referring to Martin as a "brother," Incognito's version of events paint he and Martin as friends, and Martin's departure from the team as one big misunderstanding.

Dolphins Guard Richie Incognito is accused of
bullying former teammate Jonathan Martin (Jim Waldman/AP)

Incognito isn't alone in this assessment. In an article written for MMQB, former Dolphins offensive lineman Lydon Murtha claims that Martin was an outsider who had trouble fitting in and didn't seem like he wanted to be a part of the team. Murtha points to Martin's supposed refusal to join the team on a trip to Las Vegas, reluctance to pay large dinner checks, general lack of effort and "stand offish" attitude as reason's for Incognito's treatment of Martin.

"Playing football is a man's job, and if there's any weak link, it gets weeded out," Murtha says about what he saw as Incognito trying to motivate Martin, "It's a leader's job to take care of it."

Murtha concedes Incognito "screwed up" by using a racial slur in his phone call to Martin, but that language like that was used all the time in the Dolphins locker room without any negative reactions from Martin or other players. As general hazing goes, Murtha claims that it's "never going away from football," and is an integral part of the physical, masculine culture of an NFL locker room.


One Man's Harmless Fun is Another Man's Workplace Harassment 

Only time will tell if Murtha is right about the lasting nature of hazing in the  NFL. But one thing is for sure: it hasn't always been this bad.

Two former NFL players, Jeremy Shockey and Boomer Esiason, have released statements that allege the severe amount of hazing experienced by Martin would be unheard of during their time in the league.

Jonathan Martin left the Dolphins after allegedly being
bullied by teammate Richie Incognito (Bob Brown/Jones News)

Shockey, who entered the league in 2002, claims that the most he was ever asked to do as a rookie was buy coffee and donuts every Friday for the rest of the team. Esiasion, who played in the NFL from 1984 to 1996, claims that he saw rookies being forced to pay with large dinner bills, but the fact that Martin was asked to do the same two years into his career is "absolutely ridiculous."

In a piece written for SB Nation, Matt Ufford uses these accounts as evidence of what he thinks is a "hazing creep" in the NFL, a sociological phenomena in which hazing gets "progressively worse as each year's group tries to out do the former." Ufford goes on to call for a league wide hazing policy that would prevent such behavior in the future.


What do you think about this situation? Did Incognito go to far, or is this all one big misunderstading? Give your take in the comments section below.