The Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito scandal involving the Miami Dolphins has taken a back seat in the headlines with the NFL investigation going on and now reports have come out that Martin is likely to be traded in the offseason after the way the locker room and players like Brian Hartline and Mike Wallace supporting Incognito.
According to the MMQB, Martin will go to the highest bidder in the offseason after the way that the Incognito scandal played out.
A little look back on the Martin Incognito saga:
The Miami Dolphins are dealing with a tough situation with the bullying and possible harassment of Jonathan Martin and the incident has shed a light on how NFL locker rooms sometimes operate and now there has been a formal complaint filed about possible player misconduct and now the NFL will investigate the situation and it may involve Richie Incognito among others.
According to ESPN.com, reports came out that Martin has dealt with repeated harassment and bullying that stretches back last season to after when he was drafted and Adam Schefter wrote that Richie Incognito is being looked as a possible offender regarding Martin and his harassment. The whole issue escalated earlier in the week after Martin stormed out of the team facility and left the team, with Fox Sports reporting that Martin suffered bullying and pranks at the team lunch room and slammed his tray before leaving. This would not be the first time Incognito has been seen acting in a hostile way towards teammates, as he was caught on video ribbing and pranking a teammate when the HBO show Hard Knocks followed the Dolphins last season during training camp and the preseason.
The NFLPA at first was going to investigate, but according to Pro Football Talk they are in a tough situation with the Martin harassment, as they do not have the authority to discipline, because they may in fact have to represent someone like Incognito or one of the other players for harassing Martin. The NFL and the team will have to be the lead on that part of things and now Deadspin.com is reporting that the bullying may not have been limited to Martin and this season and while Incognito took to Twitter to say that Adam Schefter has been slandering his name and another source said that the lineman has been a "model citizen", but other sources have reported that Incognito was one of the players taking part in the bullying.
Whether Incognito thinks it's bullying or not, the Deadspin.com video from Hard Knocks shows him acting like a jerk to one of his teammates for seemingly no reason and also insulting his fiance without even thinking about it, possibly showing the level of ease in bullying teammates that he was accustomed to and now that includes Martin. Schefter reported on ESPN.com that the issues with Martin may have stemmed from a Las Vegas trip that Incognito wanted Martin to "contribute $15,000" to and Martin felt that he did not want to go on the trip, but gave him money anyway to avoid any "consequences" of not paying. That type of hostile environment could be an issue for the Dolphins and later the NFLPA depending on what details emerge.
Adding to that, a Miami Herald reporter reported a story about rookies getting stiffed with a dinner bill from other players on the team and while this is something that often happens in professional sports, it is being looked at in a different context with the Martin issues going on. According to a tweet from Adam Beasley and reported on by Deadspin through tweets from other players, one rookie or several were given a $30,000 dinner check to pay for veteran players as recent as this weekend and now the hazing, bullying and harassment story is progressing for the Dolphins and for Incognito.