There is yet another wrinkle in the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin saga that we didn't see coming.
Earlier today, a report came out indicating that Martin's agent reached out to Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland recently to tell him that his client was being bullied by Incognito. And Ireland reportedly offered up a response that isn't sitting well with a lot of people right now. His response? He told Martin's agent to have Martin punch Incognito in the face to settle the score and end the bullying.
As a result of that response, Ireland is now facing a lot of criticism from people who think that he should have offered up some better advice to Martin. And he's also facing criticism from at least one former Dolphins player who says that Ireland is the worst GM in the business. That player is former Miami quarterback Sage Rosenfels, who took to Twitter earlier today to rant about what a shitty GM Ireland is. He threw plenty of shots in Ireland's direction:
I only spent two weeks on the Dolphins when Ireland was the GM. In that short time he won the award for worst GM in my career. #jerk
My reasons for my disdain for Ireland are a long story. It took about an hour to find out what everyone in that locker room thought of him.
Two months after being put on Non Football Injury list with mono, I had gotten healthy and wanted to play. He wouldn't let me off NFI......
...because the Dolphins played the Raiders that week and he didn't want them to sign me as I knew the Phins offense. Makes sense except....
...the Raiders were the only NFL team that had 4 QBs on their roster. He waited until late Friday to release me figuring nobody would.....
....sign me that late in the week. Luckily, the Vikings cut McNabb and signed me that night. There is more but that is the basics of it.
I understand GMs always put their teams first. I respect that. But he was being a jerk just because he could. That's why he won the award.
On the flip side, the Giants paid me for 5 weeks when I came down with a bad blood infection even tho I was only sick for 4 weeks. #Class.
I have no reason to help out either side. I hope it ends sooner than later. Just giving my two cents. The whole situation is a tragedy.
FYI, I asked to be put on NFI and then released after battling mono for two weeks and it getting worse. I wasn't cut.
Some people just look for ways to use their power. Others just do the right thing for everyone involved. Players know he is the former.
Everyone gets screwed over at some point in their career. It's the business. But there is story after story that has the same ring to it.
I played for 5 teams and 9 GMs and Ireland is the only 1 I had a problem with. I was also traded 3 times and cut twice. Yes, I was average.
So what do we make of all this? Well, we're not exactly sure. On the one hand, Rosenfels' tweets make Ireland sound like a horrible guy, but we're sure that he's not the only GM who has done horrible things in the past. On the other hand, we're sure this is not the kind of info that Ireland wants coming out right now. He's already on the hot seat for what he reportedly said to Martin's agent. And that seat is now getting hotter by the hour.
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[via Larry Brown Sports]
