Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin is recovering in California after the recent issues regarding Richie Incognito and as his teammates have defended Incognito and basically thrown Martin under the bus, his lawyer David Cornwell released a statement regarding the situation and refuted some of the comments made by players.
According to ESPN.com, Cornwell, who is a highly regarded attorney, said that the issues regarding the "toughness" of Jonathan Martin is off base and he has some pretty good points. The statement mentioned Martin's past playing and starting for Stanford and blocking for Andrew Luck in the "smash" mouth offense of Jim Harbaugh and that he has started every game for the Miami Dolphins since being drafted. There seems to be a deep disconnect in the entire situation between Dolphins players and Martin, as they have a hard time accepting that a person could see their behavior as bullying and emotionally distressing and harassment.
The statement from Cornwell also mentioned other details that had not been previously reported, including that Martin suffered attacks from other teammates, including another message that was directed towards his family and his sister Sarah Martin and was also very threatening in nature, like the previously reported voicemail from Richie Incognito. The statement also mentioned an incident where a teammate attacked Martin physically and after a day of Dolphins players basically saying that Martin wasn't welcome back to the place where he was previously employed and not afforded a safe work environment, the Martin side hit back.
Martin felt harassed by his teammates and reports came out that the coaches asked Richie Incognito to toughen Martin up, so where could he turn? One of his tormentors was on the leadership council and the coaches clearly knew something, so there was no one for him to approach in reality. Things only appear to be getting worse from here on out for the Dolphins, who are playing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night football on ESPN. See, what these guys don't understand is that Martin can play football and has played football and is a talented player good enough to be a second round pick, so if he doesn't define their idea of "toughness" that doesn't mean he isn't "tough"
