In response to a report that he had rebuffed interest from the Dolphins in having client Jonathan Martin return to the team, agent Rick Smith asked for space to let the process play out “organically.”
Martin said something pretty similar on Tuesday when asked by Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about the report’s implication that he doesn’t want to return to the Dolphins.
“I really can’t comment,” Martin said. “I’m just going to let the process take care of itself.”
One of the next steps in that process may be a meeting with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. During a conference call on Tuesday regarding the release of a white paper from the NYU Sports and Society program concerning bullying in sports and proposals to combat it that Ross approached the school about doing late last year, Ross said that his lawyers are trying to arrange a meeting with Martin “soon.”
“I think he wants to talk to me and I’m prepared to listen,” Ross said, via Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald.
The involvement of lawyers to set up a meeting is a reminder of both the complications of the situation and the likelihood that the process ends with Martin leaving the team.