Jonathan Martin wants to return to football, and he has gone public with NBC's Tony Dungy to let everyone know about it.
Martin's latest words drew an immediate response from the lawyer of his one-time Miami Dolphins teammate, Richie Incognito, on Thursday.
"The coarse and unacceptable comments and text messages that were sent to Jonathan Martin were of the same poor taste as those sent by him. All of these communications were provided to Ted Wells and the NFL investigation. What they show is banter between friends, not bullying," Incognito's lawyer Mark Schamel said in a statement obtained by NFL Media.
Martin has stayed mostly quiet since leaving the Dolphins in October. Martin told Dungy that he didn't feel comfortable in the Dolphins' locker room and left the team for his "own health." Allegations arose concerning teammate Incognito regarding a voice mail in which Incognito used a racial slur and threatened violence.
Schamel made the case that inappropriate texts were being sent by both Incognito and Martin. Schamel quoted a number of texts from Martin that he says were submitted to the NFL's independent investigator, Ted Wells. (Due to the explicit nature of the texts, we won't re-print them here.)
"Richie Incognito has owned his inappropriate comments, despite the fact that they were made in jest, and it is time for Jonathan Martin to do the same," Schamel said.
The lawyer's statement went on to allege that Martin was concerned with his performance, his demotion and how his play was being portrayed in the media.
"It was only after sharing these concerns, and Martin's abandonment of the team, that the bullying allegations were raised," the statement read.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross indicated this week that he expects Wells' report on the bullying scandal to become public after the Super Bowl. Ross said that he had a good idea of what would be in the report.
