Many questions remain regarding the situation involving Dolphins tackle Jonathan Martin, and answers are hard to come by.
One thing we know is that, as coach Joe Philbin said on Friday (via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald), bullying “will not be tolerated.” Added Philbin: “This is something we take very seriously.”
That’s fine. And it makes sense. Bullying shouldn’t be tolerated, and the issue should be taken seriously. But in an NFL locker room, what is bullying?
Salguero and I explored that issue on today’s PFT Live. Also, Salguero shared some specific information regarding other locker-room antics in which Martin was supposedly involved.
Was Martin overly sensitive? Did his teammates go too far? And what exactly is and isn’t acceptable in an NFL locker room?
These are all important considerations for understanding how Martin’s situation got to this point. Moving forward, the question becomes whether he’ll be accepted by the team when he returns, and whether and to what extent opponents will subject him to verbal abuse during games, under the assumption that it will be easy to get under his skin.