The ongoing battle between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin took another turn on Thursday, with Incognito's lawyer releasing some vulgar text messages he claims are from Martin.
Attorney Mark Schamel Martin sent his client vulgar and threatening text messages that included threats to "kill [his] whole family," the Miami Herald reported.
Schamel added that Incognito saw the texts as just "banter between friends" at the time and did not feel . Among the vulgar messages was a threat of sending someone to Incognito's home with a "tranquilizer gun and sandpaper condoms" for purposes of rape, according to Schamel.
In addition, Schamel stated that the texts included one where Martin threatened to ejaculate in Incognito's face.
Martin originally left the Dolphins in October due to what he classified as bullying by Incognito and his teammates. In a sit-down interview with NBC Sports this week, Martin said he felt "trapped" in the Dolphins' locker room.
Martin maintains that he took Incognito's comments as bullying while Schamel believes it is more of a situation stemming from Martin's production. According to the attorney, Martin had told Incognito in October that he was disappointed in a demotion to right tackle.
"It was only after sharing these concerns, and Martin’s abandonment of the team, that the bullying allegations were raised," Schamel said. "Rather than deal with his poor on field performance and myriad other issues, Martin is now hiding behind false allegations."
Neither Martin nor Incognito is expected to return to the Dolphins in 2014 with owner Stephen Ross all but confirming that the other day. When asked if either player would return, Ross responded with "I don't believe so" according to ESPN. Incognito is an unrestricted free agent while Martin is a candidate to be traded or released.
