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Is It Time for Richie Incognito?

By John Woodcock

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One of the stories that pestered last year’s NFL season was the drama of the Miami Dolphins offensive line. It revolved mostly around two players, former Dolphins Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito. Incognito was found to have bullied Martin and was suspended. Martin also left the team in the off season to his college head coach in Jim Harbaugh.

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Incognito has been toxic ever since. He has had discussions with several teams, but no deals emerged. He was talking to Tampa Bay when they traded for Logan Mankins. Most recently he was talking to the Denver Broncos, who ultimately did not offer him a contract either. Before his exit from the Dolphins, Incognito was playing at a high level.

The question that I have not asked yet is this: Are the Carolina Panthers at the point where they should take a flyer on Richie Incognito? The clear problem with the Panthers is the offensive line. We have depth issues as well as competence issues. Incognito would answer part of those. He would be a competent lineman and he could allow the Panthers to shuffle their limited cards on the line.

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    • On the other hand, Incognito could become a locker room distraction. The line has several younger players and no one on the line other than Kalil would be performing good enough right now. While I believe that Kalil could keep any such problems under control, it is an inherent risk.

    The conspiracy answer is that it would immediately distract from the Panthers win-loss record. All of the sudden the story would be about Incognito and how he will behave and how the rest of the League will deal with him. Lost in the shuffle would be the Panthers’ defensive issues or the people who spend too much time being hard on Cam Newton.

    Note: I would never do this. I am only pointing out that there is a certain logic to it.

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