Former Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin says he ‘never believed’ he was bullied in NFL scandal

Jonathan Martin’s short-lived NFL career is best known for the bullying scandal that accompanied it. More than a decade after his teammates were accused of harassment, the former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman regrets his participation in the league’s investigation of the matter, he recently told ESPN, while admitting he “never believed for a second” he was being bullied.

Martin, 35, was a second-round draft pick of the Dolphins in 2012, but he played just seven games in 2013 before seeking medical help for emotional distress. Reports soon indicated Martin had been the victim of “persistent bullying and teasing” by fellow blockers Richie Incognito, Mike Pouncey and John Jerry. Then the NFL intervened, commissioning attorney Ted Wells to investigate, and Incognito received an indefinite team suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team.” The club also fired its offensive line coach.

Incognito used derogatory and racial remarks, Martin reiterated to ESPN in recent interviews. Yet the latter reframed the interactions as “a situation with my teammates that I wasn’t super happy about.” Martin’s mother, Jane, “had her own read on the situation,” he said, and pushed the notion of “bullying.”

“I hadn’t even told my coaches, hadn’t told anyone,” Martin explained. “And suddenly it’s on ESPN, right? … I never believed for a second I was being bullied. … It’s a story that I’ve been trying to fix for 10 years.”

Martin would never play another snap for the Dolphins after the scandal surfaced, and, in fact, played just 15 more games at the NFL level, following a 2014 trade to the San Francisco 49ers. He prefers not to discuss the defining controversy of his career, saying he likes to “present myself as I am today,” but added that his “greatest regret [in] life” was “participating in that clown show” of an NFL investigation.

“I was not well,” said Martin, who was arrested in 2018 for tagging Incognito and other alleged Dolphins bullies in a social media post displaying a shotgun and ammunition. “I needed some sort of break from football. … [But] it didn’t need to be this tit-for-tat on TMZ, right? I should have sat down with the owner and head coach of the Dolphins and figured it out.”

Despite his personal regrets, Martin also sought to frame himself as an “alpha” in his latest ESPN interviews, complete with a dig at Incognito and his former Dolphins teammates.

“I don’t have any hard feelings toward anybody from that situation anymore,” Martin said, “because Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey already peaked. They’ve already achieved the most success they’re going to achieve in their life. And I’m just getting started.”

Incognito, meanwhile, believes Martin’s comments are just proof he was wronged years ago.

“He couldn’t cut it in the NFL, so he quit and his mom blamed me,” Incognito wrote on X this week. “Legacy media pushed this narrative long and far. Too bad it was all a lie! They lied to protect his money. He quit [and] the team had every right to claw back that money. His mom started the bullying narrative with ESPN … so that the Miami Dolphins wouldn’t go after his signing bonus!

“It was wild to read the Ted Wells report,” Incognito added. “A bunch of lawyers came in and tried to understand the culture of an NFL locker room. They made a mountain out of a mole hill while being directed by Martin’s parents. The report crushed us both! The lawyers wanted to protect the NFL and the Dolphins. They didn’t give two shits to fact check any of the wild claims made by Martin and his camp.”