Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin reportedly sent text messages containing threats of rape and murder to teammate Richie Incognito. Incognito's attorney, Mark Schamel, claims Martin only went public with bullying allegations because Martin feared being cut by the team for his poor performance on the field.
Schamel wants Martin to own up to sending equally as vulgar text messages to Incognito.
"The coarse and unacceptable comments and text messages that were sent to Jonathan Martin were of the same poor taste as those sent by him," Schamel said, via ESPN.
Schamel claims Martin's text messages to Incognito "included threats to send someone over to Richie Incognito's home with a 'tranquilizer gun and sandpaper condoms' to homosexually rape him.'"
Another text allegedly sent from Martin threatened to "kill [Richie's] whole family."
"Jonathan Martin was a full participant, who at times led some of the exact same pranks and gags and text and email exchanges he now claims, 'crossed the line,'" said Schamel.
Incognito's attorney also claimed Martin went public with the fabricated allegations of bullying because Martin felt he was going to get cut from the team for not playing well, something Schamel says Martin confided in Incognito.
"(Martin told Incognito) that he was not playing well, about how upset he was at being ranked by Pro Football Focus as among the worst linemen in the NFL, about his poor performance on the field, his demotion to right tackle and how he was concerned about what the outcome might be for his missing team meetings and, about how he felt his job was at risk," Schamel said.
He added: "Rather than deal with his poor on-field performance and myriad other issues, Martin is now hiding behind false allegations. The result undermines the real problems of bullying and demeans what is a very real problem for many young people."
The text messages Martin allegedly sent Incognito were handed over to the NFL's investigator, Ted Wells, according to Schamel.
