Former Maryland football player Yannick Ngakoue publicly called out Richie Incognito after the Jacksonville Jaguars’ win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, implying in a tweet that the Buffalo offensive lineman used racial slurs during the game:
Great win to day! And 64, you goin have to come harder than some weak racist slurs. I’m proud of my African heritage, as are 70% of the other Black players in this league. #Iaintjonathanmartin!
— YANNICK NGAKOUE! (@YannGetSacks91) January 8, 2018
“64” refers to the jersey number of Incognito, whom Ngakoue was facing in the trenches in this weekend’s AFC Wild Card matchup. Ngakoue is black, and Incognito is white.
The Jacksonville defensive end also references Incognito’s history with Jonathan Martin, a former NFL offensive lineman, from when they were teammates on the Miami Dolphins in 2012 and 2013. Martin left the team in October 2013 after he said he suffered abuse at the hands of his teammates.
An independent investigation found that Incognito had left Martin, who is biracial, a voice mail in which he called Martin a “half-n—– piece of shit” and threatened to kill him, among numerous other abusive actions. The Dolphins suspended Incognito shortly after Martin went public with his story; Martin was traded to the San Francisco 49ers a few months later, and he retired in 2015.
Incognito has since rebuilt his career and somewhat repaired his reputation in his stint with the Bills, who signed him in 2015. He told ESPN in 2016, “I’m not saying I was a saint … but I sleep well at night knowing what I did.”
Incognito has drawn the ire of other players, including former defensive tackle and Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, who said the offensive lineman called him the n-word during a game. Incognito was also caught on video using the n-word in a bar in 2013.
As for Ngakoue’s tweet, research from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport showed that 69.7 percent of NFL players during the 2016 season were black. So the former Terp knows what he’s talking about.
Update (Jan. 8): Ngakoue has stood by what he tweeted, according to ESPN, although he didn’t specify what specifically Incognito said during the game.
“He said what he said,” Ngakoue told reporters on Monday. “He knows what he said. I don’t have to repeat it.”
Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell told reporters that Ngakoue had told him what Incognito had said during the game, according to ESPN. Campbell also said Bills players seemed to be trying to goad Jaguars players into committing penalties.
“I think that’s something we’re going to have to deal with because we’ve shown we can be a little too aggressive at times,” he said. “[Racial slurs are] going too far, though.”
Campbell and defensive tackle Abry Jones, who are black, both said on Monday they didn’t hear Incognito using racial slurs, according to ESPN. But Jones said he believes Ngakoue.
“For him to go to social media and to put it out there, I don’t think he’s lying,” he told reporters. “That’s pretty big for Yan.”
Meanwhile, two of Incognito’s teammates have come to his defense. On Sunday night, Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins tweeted in support of Incognito.
Just for the world to know, everyone always tryna put some bad thing on @68INCOGNITO i was next to my guy the entire game and the entire season and believe me, if he was saying some racist stuff I would have been the first to let him know that was out of line. Cut The BS
— Dion Dawkins (@DDawkins66) January 8, 2018
Incognito wasn’t available to talk to the media on Monday, according to ESPN. But Dawkins, who is black, again stood up for Incognito, telling reporters, “I was next to Richie the entire game and Richie did not say one thing.”
Bills center Eric Wood, who is white, also said he didn’t hear anything during the game, according to ESPN. He added that “Richie’s done a lot in the past few years to restore his image, and I hope it’s not all thrown away off of speculation and whatever.”
This is a developing story, and this article will be updated.