Of all the Buffalo Bills stories this offseason, Richie Incognito is at the top of the list following his second retirement announcement.
Besides making noise with all the player movement with trades, signings and draft picks, the Buffalo Bills were in the headlines fairly often.
There have been many keys stroked about the Bills organization lately. From Eric Wood’s retirement, Josh Allen’s dug up tweets on draft day or even Zay Jones’ breakdown. But of all the stories the Bills have had over the last few months, Richie Incognito’s offseason has been at the top. LeSean McCoy’s situation is now up there as well.
With the recent news of him announcing his retirement (again), let’s take a trip down memory lane just to see how weird Incognito’s offseason was.
The first episode came on Twitter when he fired his agent on April 5.
https://twitter.com/68INCOGNITO/status/981881412704919552
Then on April 10, Incognito starting texting media members that he was done with football and was ready to retire.
@68INCOGNITO just told me the following: "I'm, done. That's it. It's been a long career. Went to the doctor. My liver and kidneys are shutting down. The stress is killing me. It's just about doing what's right. I just want to be in the Hall of Fame." Full story to come.
— Vic Carucci (@viccarucci) April 10, 2018
Or so we thought.
https://twitter.com/68INCOGNITO/status/984964586293088256
When asked about Incognito’s status with the team Brandon Beane said this:
“Richie is on the reserve/retired list which is not a part of our 90-man roster and that’s really what it is. I don’t think it’s the time to get into it. Let’s leave it as is.”
It was a very confusing time for the Bills who just lost Wood to a career-ending neck injury, one of the leaders along the offensive line, and they now had an odd relationship with their three-time Pro Bowler.
For a few weeks, the Incognito situation got swept under the rug, so to speak.
That was until his altercation at a Lifetime Fitness gym in South Florida where he reportedly starting yelling at fellow patrons of the gym while hurling tennis balls at them and punching the equipment. This incident led to the police being called; which is where the story got even weirder.
The police report read as follows:
“Incognito stated he was just training and that, ‘there’s a guy walking around with headphones on. I’m running NSA class level 3 documents through my phone. I can’t have anybody in Bluetooth capability of me or taking pictures of me.”
The former Bills guard was not charged with anything based on the fact that the police investigation found Incognito was in an altered state at the time of the incident.
The report said that he was “suffering an altered, paranoid state and believed ordinary citizens were government officials that were tracking him and recording him.”
Not long after the incident Incognito was promptly released and wished well by the organization.
The 11-year pro was not picked by a team this offseason and announced on July 23 that “The NFL chapter is closed,” and behind him.
Incognito will be “flipping the script” and joining Boo2Bullying as an ambassador for the anti-bullying group as announced in the video below.
It’s great that the troubled lineman is looking to give back to the community, but you can’t help but cringe a bit at the video and how he went about the announcement.
Nonetheless, it has certainly been a weird and wild offseason for Incognito. Let’s hope he finds peace and happiness in this next chapter in life.