Richie Incognito has become the latest player to criticize the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell. In an interview with Newsday, the Buffalo Bills guard is particularly scathing of the league’s disciplinary system, which has come under close scrutiny following Tom Brady’s suspension over the Deflategate scandal.
“I just think it’s bogus, the whole system in how it’s set up with Roger and the complete, absolute power he has,” Incognito said. “He has so much power and he hires independent investigators who come in and are obviously not independent. They come in with an agenda and they come in looking to find facts to back up their argument. All the facts are slanted in their favor.”
Incognito was suspended by the NFL after he was found guilty of bullying his then Miami Dolphins team-mate Jonathan Martin. The NFL’s investigator in the case was Ted Wells, who also oversaw this year’s Deflategate case.
“Ted Wells came in with a mission against me,” Incognito added. “Ted Wells came in slanted against me and everything in his report was slanted against me. There were some things in there that would have helped my cause that were left out …team-mate testimony, stuff like that. You see that in [Tom] Brady’s case. There’s a lot of stuff that got left out. There’s a lot of misinformation.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Incognito admitted he thought Goodell was doing well in other areas, including player safety.
Incognito’s comments came a few days after the New York Jets’ Antonio Cromartie, who has clashed with Brady in the past, defended the quarterback. “Honestly, I don’t think [Brady] should be suspended,” Cromartie said on First Take, ESPN’s debate program, when asked about the fairness of the NFL’s punishment for Brady’s role in Deflategate. “Nobody is safe no matter who you are. Roger [Goodell] is going to do what he wants to do. It don’t matter what the rules say, he’s gonna make his own rules as he goes, and it shouldn’t be like that.
Incognito missed the entire 2014 season, with teams wary of picking a player who was seen by a pariah after it emerged he had used racist slurs against Martin. But the Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan says he is willing to give Incognito a second chance and said he will be part of the team’s starting line-up. Incognito said his suspension had changed the way he has conducted himself.
“[I’ve] definitely made some changes,” Incognito said. “People always ask, ‘Was it this big change? Did you have this big come-to-Jesus moment?’ I mean, I definitely had to change some things about it, but I think personality-wise, I’m still the same. It’s just being self-aware and growing up a little bit and being more mature and carrying myself as a veteran leader.”
