Bills owner Terry Pegula said this week that he, his wife Kim, coach Rex Ryan and General Manager Doug Whaley met with guard Richie Incognito before signing him to a contract for the 2015 season and now Incognito has shed a little light on what he told the group during that meeting.
Incognito did not play at all in 2014 after being at the center of a bullying investigation involving the Dolphins during the 2013 season and told Jeff Darlington of NFL media that he spoke to the team about what he learned during his time away from the game.
“I told them what I had learned from the whole situation,” Incognito wrote in a text to Darlington. “That I needed to respect those around me more and that I needed to realize I may find things funny that other find offensive. This whole learning process was about becoming self-aware. About becoming a better person/teammate/leader. We mutually expressed that this would be my last chance and we should look at it as a positive. Take the opportunity to bring attention to a sensitive subject while proving to people that I’m not a racist jerk. We talked about possible ways to turn this situation around and ways we can impact the community. We had a good talk for about an hour. They met separately. They then came back and said they would like me to be part of the organization.”
Incognito told Darlington he spent six weeks last summer receiving in-patient treatment at the McLean Institute in Boston, where Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall and 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith have also received care in the past. Whatever he learned in his time there was obviously enough for the Bills to feel comfortable bringing Incognito aboard in hopes he can both stay out of trouble while helping the interior of their offensive line this year.