Bills will sign Richie Incognito

[Blue and Gold]

Report: Bills to take a look at Richie Incognito
Posted by Mike Florio on February 6, 2015, 11:11 PM EST

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As the Bills attempt to take the next step from 9-7 to the postseason, the franchise will take a look at a guy who has been exiled from the sport for more than a year.

James Walker of ESPN.com reports that the Bills will give former Dolphins guard Richie Incognito a physical on Saturday.

It’s a low-risk proposition for the Bills, whose fan base remains in a state of euphoria regarding: (1) the acquisition of the franchise by owners who are committed to keeping the team in Buffalo; and (2) the hiring of coach Rex Ryan. Few if any will bat an eye at the interest in Incognito.

If Incognito signs with the Bills, he’ll become a member of the offseason roster, which can hold up to 90 players. He’ll need to show that he can still perform at a high level — and he’ll have to stay out of trouble — if he hopes to win a spot on the 53-man roster.

Incognito was suspended by the Dolphins in November 2013 for his role in the bullying of Jonathan Martin, who currently plays for the 49ers. Incognito became a free agent last March, but he has generated only mild interest.

Drafted by the Rams in 2005, Incognito spent four-plus seasons in St. Louis. Cut in 2009, the Bills claimed him on waivers in December, employing him for three games before he became a free agent and joined the Dolphins.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I wish the Rams would take a look at him too.

 

[LesBaker]

So the Bills aren't moving to LA?

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/07/bills-will-sign-richie-incognito/

Bills will sign Richie Incognito
Posted by Michael David Smith on February 7, 2015

AP

After sitting out 2014, Richie Incognito will play for Rex Ryan in Buffalo in 2015.

Incognito, the controversial guard who hasn’t played since the Dolphins suspended him in October of 2013 for bullying teammate Jonathan Martin, is signing with the Bills. TheBuffalo News and ESPN both report that the signing should come today.

Ryan said when he took the Bills job in January that he wants “to build a bully,” so Incognito should fit right in. The Bills’ offensive line was a weakness last season, and Incognito will have a chance to compete for a starting spot. The Bills should also improve at guard with the return of Chris Williams, who started the first three games last season but was then lost to a back injury.

Incognito had workouts with the Broncos, Chiefs and Buccaneers last season but didn’t sign anywhere. Now he’ll get a fresh start in a place where he has a chance to make an impact.

 

[Warner4Prez]

Wait, Williams will help improve the line?

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Rex clown car Step 1

 

[Tron]

How he hasn't been signed by the faiders(raiders) is beyond me. He was born to be on that team.

 

[HometownBoy]

How he hasn't been signed by the faiders(raiders) is beyond me. He was born to be on that team.

Should tell the bills something.

 

[RamFan503]

So the Bills aren't moving to LA?

Who says?

 

[Blue and Gold]

Bills announce “agreement in principle” with Incognito
Posted by Mike Florio on February 7, 2015, 6:28 PM EST

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Last month, new Bills coach Rex Ryan vowed tobuild a bully. And now the team has acquired a bully.

Perhaps a fully-reformed bully, but a bully nonetheless. The Bills have announced that that the team has reached an agreement in principlewith Richie Incognito.

The veteran guard missed all of the 2014 season after being suspended for the final eight games of 2013 following the abrupt departure of tackleJonathan Martin from the Dolphins. The report generated last February by investigator Ted Wells found that Incognito engaged in various unsavory activities, from making “graphic, sexually explicit comments about Martin’s sister,” leaving a voice message with Martin in which Incognito used a racial slur and said, “I’ll kill you,” sending text messages with insults based on Martin’s race, harassing another player based on the perception that he is gay, and ridiculing an Asian-American assistant trainer with racist comments.

In a separate incident, Incognito assaulted a female volunteer at a team golf outing, “touching her privates with a golf club and emptying a bottle of water in her face.” She received a $30,000 settlement, and Incongito was summoned to the league office and fined $50,000 by the team.

It’s no surprise, then, that former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner has criticized Buffalo’s decision to sign Incognito.

“Considering the list of things Incognito has done, this is a bad signing and a terrible message as a first move by a new group,” Banner said Saturday on Twitter.

It’s definitely a surprise that a team co-owned by Kim Pegula would sign a player who assaulted a woman. And it’ll be interesting to see if the agreement in principle ever becomes a signed contract. Nineteen years ago, the late Myra Kraft insisted that the Patriots sever ties with Christian Peter, who had just been selected with a fifth-round draft pick. While Peter’s alleged misdeeds included more and arguably worse conduct than Incognito’s, the notion that an NFL team co-owned by a female would provide employment to a man whose long list of behavior includes sexual misconduct sends a confusing message at a time when the NFL seems to be intent on restricting the privilege of playing pro football to those who have not committed improper acts against others — particularly against women.

Kim Pegula also is Asian-American, like the assistant trainer Incognito relentlessly harassed in Miami. I wonder if she has read pages 22 and 23 of the Ted Wells report.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...0k-signing-bonus-in-incentive-laden-contract/

Incognito got $100K signing bonus in incentive-laden contract
Posted by Michael David Smith on February 10, 2015

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The Bills gave Richie Incognito more money than most people were expecting a guy who spent last year as an NFL pariah to receive.

PFT has learned that Incognito received a $100,000 signing bonus, which comes as a surprise. Incognito was believed to be desperate just to get a shot to return to the NFL, so the fact that the Bills had to give him a bonus to get him to sign is odd. Maybe the Bills thought another team was in the running to get Incognito.

Incognito also got a $900,000 non-guaranteed base salary, roster bonuses of $21,875 for each game that he’s on the 46-man active roster (which would total $350,000 if he plays all 16 games), and playing-time incentives that begin if he takes 60 percent of the Bills’ offensive snaps and max at $800,000 if he plays 75 percent of the snaps in 2015. Incognito can also get a $100,000 workout bonus.

That’s a pretty good contract, suggesting that the Bills identified signing Incognito as a key priority and wanted to get the deal done quickly. When Incognito was first suspended by the Dolphins in 2013 for bullying teammate Jonathan Martin, there was talk that it could have represented the end of Incognito’s career, or that if he ever returned he’d be lucky just to find a team willing to give him the league minimum. The Bills have given Incognito significantly more than that.

 

[RamFan503]

I'm wondering what other incentives there might be for, to put it simply, not being a dick. I don't see the $100k as being all that surprising. I'm sure the Bills have some way of extracting that from him or only paying that amount should it not work out. I'm sure Richie signed off on all kinds of contingencies so that he could get a check. Hasn't he gone a year without one?

 

[Prime Time]

I'm wondering what other incentives there might be for, to put it simply, not being a dick. I don't see the $100k as being all that surprising. I'm sure the Bills have some way of extracting that from him or only paying that amount should it not work out. I'm sure Richie signed off on all kinds of contingencies so that he could get a check. Hasn't he gone a year without one?

It's purely a performance based contract that protects the Bills. It's a good signing by them with minimum risk. It just shows how hard up RI has become.

If he could have just controlled his rage and his mouth he would have had quite the career and made mega-bucks. He'll turn 32 before the season begins and is on the tail end of his career. Maybe if he proves himself this season he'll have an opportunity for one more big contract.

 

[Blue and Gold]

Mimi?


Incognito signing still has some unanswered questions
Posted by Mike Florio on February 10, 2015, 6:10 PM EST

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It happened beyond the Friday afternoon bad news dump, squarely within the bowels of the first weekend without football since Labor Day. Richie Incognito, suspended for the final eight games of 2013 and unwanted for all of 2014 in the aftermath of theJonathan Martin scandal, returned to the NFL as a member of the Buffalo Bills.

Initial reports of a $2.25 million base salary felt inflated, because they were. It nevertheless made sense to tie Incognito’s compensation to base salary, since he wouldn’t have made until he made the 53-man roster.

The total package, as outlined earlier by MDS, adds up to $2.25 million, but to get that Incognito needs to dress for every game and participate in at least 75 percent of the total snaps. The strangest aspect of the compensation decision is the$100,000 signing bonus Incognito received.

Absent evidence someone else was willing to pay Incognito $95,000 at the same time the Bills offered him $100,000 up front, the Bills were bidding against no one. Besides, if (as most assume) the Bills have placed the somewhere-between-third-and-seventh-chance Incognito on double-secret probation, willing and ready to dump him if he makes only one false move, they’ll have to also be willing to bid adieu to the signing bonus, which can be fully recovered only in the event of retirement or full-season suspension.

Meanwhile, only one of the team’s two owners has addressed the signing of Incognito, and that probably wasn’t an accident. Terry Pegula explained the decision; Kim Pegula hasn’t. An explanation from Kim Pegula, if one ever comes, should address her level of comfort with Incognito despite his misadventures at a Dolphins golf outing with a female volunteer and his persistent harassment of an Asian-American assistant trainer in Mimi.

Many are praising the move as a fair shot at redemption for a guy who has atoned for his misdeeds. But if playing in the NFL truly is a privilege (as we’ve heard many times over the years), doesn’t a player at some point permanently forfeit the privilege?

 

[Blue and Gold]

Other former Rams signed . . . Ty Nsekhe



Washington signs Tyler Larsen, Ty Nsekhe
Posted by Mike Wilkening on February 10, 2015, 6:09 PM EST

AP
Washington has added some depth at a pair of offensive line spots.

The club announced the signing of center Tyler Larsen and offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old Larsen was with the Dolphins in the lead-up to the 2014 season before being waived in August. Larsen (6-4, 313) played collegiately at Utah State and earned an invitation to the 2014 Senior Bowl.

Nsekhe (6-8, 325) spent the 2014 preseason with the Saints, who released him in September. Nsekhe, 29, appeared in two games for the Rams as a reserve in 2012. He also had a stint with Indianapolis in 2012.

 

[Ramrasta]

Offensive linemen are such a hot commodity. If he was a WR or a RB, I doubt he would have gotten a second look with his age and his background.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Odds on Buffalo leading the league in personal fouls just improved.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ys-there-are-no-more-skeletons-in-his-closet/

Richie Incognito says there are no more skeletons in his closet
Posted by Darin Gantt on June 17, 2015

AP

New Bills coach Rex Ryan has told us many times that the Richie Incognito he signed this offseason was a different man, a man determined to make things right.

While a year of exile from the NFL might reasonably make a man reconsider his actions, Incognito said there’s only so much more that can be said about him at this stage.

“I think I’ve had enough dirty laundry aired, and I think I’ve had all the skeletons in my closet thrown out,” Incognito told Kimberly Jones on the NFL Network. “I’m at the point in my career, especially under Rex, if I got something to say I’m going to say it. I’ve been around the block and I’ve definitely had my run-ins, and I’ve definitely had my time in the media, but I’m just looking forward. I’m excited about the opportunity. I’m excited about getting back to work.”

He also vowed his loyalty to Ryan and the Bills for giving him a second chance when many would not have.

“They’re going to get every ounce of effort I have,” Incognito said. “On- and off-the-field a complete commitment to football and making the guys around me better. I just owe them everything I have.”

Ryan has spoken openly about “building a bully,” and Incognito has the requisite experience there from his days in Miami. But if he’s going to keep it on the field, he has a chance to fit in with an offense, a culture and a coach that may be perfect for him.