Dolphins guard Richie Incognito has returned to Twitter with a vengeance. But he currently is seeking no vengeance; he has been surprisingly contrite.
Overnight, Incognito issued a series of apologies and made other observations about his future.
“I would like to send Jonathan my apologies as well,” Incognito said, several hours after issuing a general apology for acting like a “big baby” in the days after the issuance of the Ted Wells report that found harassment of Jonathan Martin. “Until someone tells me different you are still my brother. No hard feelings.”
Wells also got an apology, along with owner Stephen Ross: “I would like to also apologize to Mr. Ross and Mr. Wells. Sh-t got cray cray.”
Incognito also made it clear that, despite the content of a deleted tweet from Sunday, he has not fired his agents at Athletes first. Said Richie, “I love you. I will never ever FIRE you. Tu es mi familia.”
Incognito also seems to have dropped his “Free Incognito” slogan, and in so doing it appears he won’t be filing any type of lawsuit in connection with the issuance of the Wells report.
“There are no winners in the courts,” Incognito said. “Just families left to deal with their decisions and pick up the pieces. You can’t free something. . . . We are all born free.”
As free as the wind blows, and Incognito still has the ability to blow hot and cold. In his stream of apologies, he also retweeted a message that reflects the defiance he had demonstrated last week, before making a temporary Twitter exit.
“Keep your head up brother,” another Twitter account told Incognito. “There are always 3 sides of a story. His side. Your side and the truth. #wussificationofAmerica.”
While a far cry from Incognito’s “truth is going to bury you” rant from last week, his endorsement of the message suggests that he continues to dispute aspects of Jonathan Martin’s account. Incognito seems to realize that his own version may not be accurate either. Still, the endorsement of the “wussification of America” mantra suggests that Incognito still believes at some level that this entire exercise has been a load of crap, and that it all comes back to a fundamental lack of mental and physical toughness on the part of Martin.
Still, it’s encouraging that Incognito understands his recent comments were misguided. Incognito proved during his first year with the Dolphins that he can comply with external expectations if his NFL career is hanging in the balance. His NFL career is now hanging in the balance. He seems to realize that, and he seems to be willing to behave.
The challenge for his next team, and surely there will be one, will be to keep him on a one-strike exemption beyond his first year with the team, which the Dolphins didn’t do. And a lot of people have paid for that one.