Report To The NFL On Issues Of Workplace Conduct At The Miami Dolphins

This, called “Report To The NFL On Issues Of Workplace Conduct At The Miami Dolphins is the full 142 page report on what’s really the issue between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, who were fellow offensive linemen with the Miami Dolphins.

Jonathan Martin, the standout Stanford University student-athlete, left the Miami Dolphins and later claimed that he was bullied and harassed by Incognito. Incognito counters that he and Martin were friends, and that Martin and he were just engaged in a form of behavior common to brothers who play football on the same team.

It only takes 17 seconds of reading through the document to learn that the Miami Dolphins had a less-than-desirable workplace for Jonathan Martin. The first segment in the report’s Executive Summary reads “(Jonathan) Martin Was Subjected to Persistent Harassing Language,” and goes from there.

Looking at that part of the detailed report, which reads as a history of Martin’s time with the Dolphins, we find that Martin was basically being targeted by Incognito, Mike Pouncey, and Dolphins Assistant Trainer John Jerry.

(Why a trainer would be involved in such behavior is a head-scratcher. But as I reach back to my time as an equipment manager for Skyline High School’s football team – a job I took just to get my football plays in – what I hated most was the kind of gang mentality and childish behavior that was rampant. But that was high school.)

Wells writes: To be candid, we struggled with how to evaluate Martin’s claims of harassment given his mental health issues, his possible heightened sensitivity to insults and his unusual, “bipolar” friendship with Incognito. Nonetheless, we ultimately concluded that Martin was indeed harassed by Incognito, who can fairly be described as the main instigator, and by Jerry and Pouncey, who tended to follow Incognito’s lead.In reaching this conclusion, we were significantly influenced by multiple factors, including the flagrantly inappropriate treatment of the Assistant Trainer and Player A, which, independent of Martin’s claims, reflected a pattern of harassment.

The comments toward Martin weren’t directed at just him, but at members of his family, most notably, his sister, a medical school student that none of his Dolphins teammates ever met. This is what was said about her:

– We are going to run train on your sister. She loves me. I’m going to
fuck her without a condom and cum in her cunt.
– Hey, Jmart’s sister is in town.Get the plastic sheets ready, she’s a squirter.
– I’m going to bang the shit out of her and spit on her
and treat her like shit.
– Hear your sister has a wolf-puss. A fat, hairy pussy

And that was by Pouney and John Jerry, who has been fired.

And then there’s the voicemessage Incognito left for Martin:

Hey, wassup, you half-nigger piece of shit. I saw you on Twitter, you been training 10 weeks. I’ll shit in your fuckin’ mouth. I’m gonna slap your fuckin’ mouth, I’m gonna slap your real mother across the face [laughter]. Fuck you, you’re still a rookie. I’ll kill you.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: this doesn’t reflect well on Miami Dolphins’ Head Coach Joe Philbin, or now-former General Manger Jeff Ireland, who reportedly told Martin to fight back by throwing a punch; not the kind of advice that will develop a mature workplace.

Jonathan Martin Versus The N-Word

Regular readers of my blog and videos know I don’t like the n-word. In that context, it’s particularly hard to read of accounts where Martin was called that in 2012-2014 – accounts where a “Harvard ass-hole” did it, as well as “3 white boys outside of a bowling alley” calling him the n-word. But even with those examples, and others, Martin elected to avoid retaliation.

Dolphins Coaches Are Immature

What’s particularly galling in the report are accounts that make Dolphins Coaches, like Offensive Line Coach Jim Turner, look more like immature kids than professional teachers. In Turner’s case, this report has him endorsing the bad treatment of certain players. Turner, along with the Dolphins trainers, have been fired.

If it were up to me, the firings would not stop there. The Dolphins should fire their current head coach, and just wipe the slate clean and start all over.

Here’s the rest of the report, in full:

REPORT TO THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ON ISSUES OF WORKPLACE CONDUCT AT THE MIAMI DOLPHINS