NFL Report Released: Incognito Was Not the Lone Haranguer

The independent report investigating the Richie Incognito-Jonathon Martin conflict has finally been released.

It's confirmed what Martin has said all along. Incognito, in conjunction with several other teammates, not only harassed Martin, but others as well.

Mike Pouncey and John Jerry joined Incognito, according to the Ted Wells report, engaging in a "pattern of harassment" towards Martin, another player, and an assistant trainer.

Here is a snippet of the report's text:

 "We find that the Assistant Trainer repeatedly was targeted with racial slurs and other racially derogatory language. Player A frequently was subjected to homophobic name-calling and improper physical touching. Martin was taunted on a persistent basis with sexually explicit remarks about his sister and his mother and at times ridiculed with racial insults and other offensive comments."

That might explain why Incognito went off on a Twitter rant the other day, because he knew he would be found guilty of these charges.

Wells also said the investigation team struggled with how to see Martin's role in this considering his mental state of mind.

"To be candid, we struggled with how to evaluate Martin's claims of harassment given his mental health issues, his possible heightened sensitivity to insults, and his unusual, 'bipolar' friendship with Incognito. Nonetheless, we ultimately concluded that Martin was indeed harassed by Incognito, who can fairly be described as the main instigator, and by Jerry and Pouncey, who tended to follow Incognito's lead."

If you look at Incognito's history, it shouldn't shock anyone that he was the ringleader. He was released from the St Louis Rams and kicked off two college football teams for basically being a jerk.

Incognito even tried to justify his harassment by saying that players "recognized, accepted, and, indeed, actively participated in 'go-for-the-jugular' teasing" and that the sexual comments "helped them bond."

Apparently not. 

The surprising thing in all this may be that team officials either didn't know, or didn't care about what was happening and didn't do anything to stop this.

They have no choice now.