The Miami Dolphins organization looks pretty horrible right now and it only seems to be getting worse, as players have started to speak out about Jonathan Martin and throwing him under the bus in regards to the Richie Incognito harassment situation and reports from Florida includes some locker room culture details that are starting to come out.
Players around the league have come out and have started to defend Incognito, including a number of Dolphins players in Brent Grimes, Mike Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Ryan Tannehill and Brian Hartline, making it seem like Martin would not be welcome back with the team. According to SI.com, the players do not feel that Incognito is a racist and unnamed players said to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald that Incognito is considered an "honorary black man" and that he is considered more black than Martin. While these players have their own opinions, this is a terrible situation for a player to deal with, as Martin is African American and it shouldn't be up to someone else to decide how he should be identified.
The Dolphins organization is looking terrible in this situation and while some players have asked why Martin did not take it to the coaching staff or leadership I ask this, why would he? Incognito was on the "leadership council" and apparently coaches told Incognito to get Martin to tough him up, so who exactly was he supposed to turn to? The NFL is doing a review of the workplace situation in Miami and their investigational findings will be very interesting and the league said it will make its report on that public, which is a good sign. Players defending Incognito makes Martin look like the bad guy and it perpetuates the usual problems in professional sports where the "different" person is looked at as an "other" and ostracized.
Dolphins players, including Mike Pouncey, have said that they wish Incognito was back with the team and the way it seems right now, no one is defending Martin from the Dolphins side of things. Very classy. Numerous reports have come out about the situation, including that players felt he was "less black" because of where Martin came from and since he went to school at Stanford and his parents are Harvard educated lawyers. Again, very classy and civilized. Reports from the Sun Sentinel have the team calling Martin soft by certain players and now it seems like the players don't even want him back. This will continue to unravel.
