Richie Incognito may be one of the most well-known offensive linemen in recent NFL history.
And not necessarily for all the right reasons.
The 43-year-old is best remembered for the bullying scandal during his Miami Dolphins stint with teammate Jonathan Martin. Incognito has reinvented his image over the past decade, ending his long career as a four-time Pro Bowl offensive guard - three straight with the Buffalo Bills - after a 15-season career in the NFL.
The veteran guard with over 160 league starts took the time to sit down for a one-on-one interview with Covers to talk about his new podcast Initial Contact with former NFL tight end Christian Fauria, and the current fortunes of his former teams.
Incognito on Bills: “They got to find their identity on offense.”
Q: I want to get some of your thoughts on your former teams. Two played in a big Monday Night Football game, the Bills and Rams. The Bills come out with a win, and when you look at this team, it's very Josh Allen-centric. How do they stack up with the rest of the teams in the NFL? Is this the year they make that Super Bowl run?
Incognito: “It's been a rocky road for the Bills. They got to find their identity on offense. Everything running through Superman Josh Allen is great, but you can't live and die by that, right? I want to see them find some more consistency in the run game with James Cook. I think James Cook obviously has to take care of the ball. Offensive line has to do a better job of blocking. I think the Buffalo Bills are kind of searching for their identity a little bit on offense, and it's nice to say that because they're winning. I think they just need a little bit more consistency out of the offense. It's tough to say that when they're putting up 30 and 35 points, but it's the Josh Allen experience. It's Superman.
“Defensive side of the ball, they got a great pass rush. Greg Rousseau and a couple of those guys in there can really go. The back end of the defense concerns me. It really does. I think they got exposed again, obviously, by Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, that talented tight end group that they have.
“Bills are looking solid. They got a good record right now. They're looking like they're going to make a deep postseason run. Is this the year that they make it to the Super Bowl and finally get the win? We will see. I think they have to play a little bit more consistent football on both sides of the ball, figure out how to cover some people up on that back end, so that Josh and that offense don't have to score 30, 35 or 40 points to win in January.”
Q: Where would you rank them in the AFC hierarchy? Because obviously the Chiefs are back, and when I look at them, I'm kind of looking at the same thing as you. It's the Josh Allen experience all over again. You know that'll win you the regular season games, but in the playoffs, it's not going to win you the games.
Incognito: “Yeah, it's pretty stacked right now. The AFC is always a tough test. The Bills are good enough to win right now in the regular season. What is going to be their calling card in the postseason? What are they going to do to get over the hump to get back to the Super Bowl?
“You look at the Kansas City Chiefs; they're all the way back. Mahomes looks sharp. Kenneth Walker is an absolute beast. He is lighting it up. He's giving Kansas City something that they haven't had in a long time.
"I think in the division with the Bills, we got to keep an eye on New England. They found their footing. They're playing physical football. Is it going to be the Bills or the Patriots coming out of that East? I got the Bills, and yeah, there's a handful of other good teams.
“I think the best teams in football are coming out of the NFC right now,”
“I think the NFC is going to be tough. I think the best teams in football are coming out of the NFC right now, and they all might be in the NFC West: Seahawks, Niners, Rams once they finally get their thing going.
"There's a small group of contenders, and there's also a very large group of pretenders, and that's what this regular season is for. We're five weeks in. We're going to see what teams are playing here in November, December. See how healthy they are, and it's all about the postseason, man. Get through the regular season, get into the postseason, make a bunch of noise, get some wins, further yourself, and ultimately get to the dance.”
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What’s holding back the Rams?
Q: Let's talk about the Rams real quick because they're 2-3. They've been in every one of their games except Week 1 in Australia against the Niners. How do you assess this team right now?
Incognito: “The Rams are chasing the rest of the division right now. The 49ers are playing the best football in the National Football League. Got a huge win against the Seahawks. Really got a lot of points off turnovers, and that's what good teams have to do. If the offense isn't working, defense has to step up, take the ball away, and then offense has to make them pay.
“They're also chasing the Seahawks, reigning Super Bowl champs. That defense is nasty. They're having a little bit of issues with Sam Darnold turning the ball over, running backs turning the ball over. So hard to overcome those things.
“I really like Sean McVay's run game, but now it's just self-inflicted wounds…”
“The Rams are really, really interesting because they came in as Super Bowl favorites.
"They have the quote-unquote super team with Myles Garrett... You got Matthew Stafford, you got Davante Adams, you got Puka Nacua. You got a talented tight end group.
“What I saw the other night was the Rams killing themselves with penalties. Really, really sloppy game on both sides of the ball. Obviously, the offense can move up and down the field. They run the ball effectively. I really like Sean McVay's run game, but now it's just self-inflicted wounds with them.
“Special teams has been their Achilles heel for the last several seasons. They can't figure it out. They drive all the way down there in overtime (Monday) night and get a kick blocked, which is blasphemy, especially as an offensive lineman.
"It is so hard to block those kicks. They just had a breakdown in protection, and it winds up costing them the game. Ton of penalties, false starts, a lot of stuff that's out of character for them.
“They are in a very tough position right now because they're looking up at the rest of the division. They're gonna have to start collecting wins here because it's looking like the wild card path is their path to the playoffs.
"Do they kick it in gear in time? Can they play enough defense? That remains to be seen.
“I'm still bullish on the Rams. I really like them. I liked them coming into the season. I think they have a ton of talent. I'm an offensive guy. I want to see offenses execute at a high level.
"I really love McVay, the game plan, the run game, obviously Stafford and those receivers. But yeah, they got to kick it into gear now, or else they're going to be left out of the postseason.”
Q: Yeah, that's what I was going to say, Richie. Is it realistic to think that they could miss the postseason this year?
Incognito: “One hundred percent. Absolutely.
"With the way that they're playing right now, they could possibly miss the postseason. You have to understand that it's probably going to be down to San Francisco and Seattle to win that division, right?
"So now the Rams are going to have to take the wild card route. They're sitting at 2-3 right now. They need to at least get to 10 or 11 wins to make some noise in the wild card, right?
“You have all these other teams that are kind of collecting wins right now, maybe not playing their best ball. If the Rams drop another two or three games and injuries mount up, there is a shot that they could miss the postseason.”
Dolphins: “There's a lot of holes in the roster…”
Q: I'm interested to get your take on the Dolphins. We know they're the worst team in the NFL, right? They're competitive, but Malik Willis is not playing great. What are your thoughts on Dolphins quarterback, Malik Willis? Is it possible they go with Kyle McCord at some point this season?
Incognito: “It's tough to really pass judgment on Malik Willis because it's up and down. I think the rest of the roster is really, really bad.
"They're paying $180 million to guys that are no longer there.
“Overall, they're just not a very good football team.”
"There's a lot of holes in the roster. Maybe they make a change at quarterback. It doesn't matter. I think just looking at the roster, they don't have enough talent, and they're not playing well.
“Everyone knew it was going to be a rebuild going into the season. They grabbed Malik Willis kind of as a bridge quarterback, and it's tough.
"It's tough to evaluate players when you're playing on a roster where you have not that many great players. We'll see what they're able to put together. I think it's important that they have a great offseason, a great draft, great free agency class, and then really start building this thing out.
"But there’s not a lot to like out of them. They show fight. They show a little bit here and there. But overall, they're just not a very good football team.”
Q: Do you see them finishing with a win this season, or more than one win?
Incognito: “It's so hard to win in this league. I could see them getting a win somewhere along the way. They're going to get someone somewhere along the way.
"It's impossible, or it's very difficult to go through a season without getting a win because the season is so long, right?
"With the injuries and the way teams are up and down and travel, there's so many factors that go into it. I give them a good shot at getting a win. I don't know about many more after that, though.”
Incognito on Miami’s NFL Draft plans
Q: It's probably a given that they're probably going to take a quarterback in next year's draft, right? And if they do, what's a quarterback that maybe fits their system?
Incognito: “Oh man, that's a good question. That's an offseason question.
"I think they got to get the rest of the team right. You’ve got to get a real serious offensive line. You’ve got to get some receivers on the edge that will threaten a defense or make things easier for a quarterback.
"They need so many more upgrades. So just throwing a quarterback into the mix, I don't think it fixes their problem.
“What I would look for in a quarterback is I want a guy with a big arm. I want a guy with a big arm that is accurate that can make all the throws. But I also want a guy that can move around. I don't want a traditional pocket passer.
"I think in this generation of the NFL, you have to be able to evade the rush. You have to be able to get away from pressure and then deliver the ball accurately downfield.
“Watch Josh Allen (against the Rams). He just took over that game. Big, physical, mobile.
"They don't make many quarterbacks like Josh Allen, but if you look at Caleb Williams and you look at quarterbacks that are able to have success, they have enough enough athleticism to make the defense pay when things break down on third down, and they have enough athleticism to run away from the rush and complete the ball downfield.
“So I would look for someone like that, a hybrid type of that. Build out the offensive line, get them some help at receiver, tight end, running back, and then see where this thing is at in a year or two.”
Q: And if Jeremiah Smith is their thinking at number one overall, maybe they go with him over a quarterback, right? It's a possibility.
Incognito: “Oh, always a possibility. It's so fun watching that kid play. He's so special. I know every fanbase that's like 0-5 right now and in the mix, they're all saying, 'Okay, let's just tank for Jeremiah.'
"And again, this is the NFL; it's a team game. You throw Jeremiah Smith in these locker rooms, it's probably not going to move the needle.
"But that guy is a special, special, special player, and hopefully, whatever organization he goes to, he could be a big piece of them rebuilding.”
Life after football: getting behind a microphone
Q: What is your long term objective of this show, Initial Contact? What makes it stand out compared to all the other podcasts that are out there?
Incognito: “We're building some really good chemistry because Christian has a background in media. He's been doing it a lot longer than I have.
"He has a great pedigree, and when we were putting the show together, we just thought Christian would be a perfect complement to me.
"I'm more all gas, no breaks, just like my playing career. And Christian's more buttoned up, the professor. He's very cerebral.
“So yeah, what we want to do is, man, we want to just grow this thing. Year one is all about audience growth. We want to put out great content every week, get it spinning on all the social channels, attract eyeballs to us, because we're putting out great content.
“We work really hard on the content piece of this thing, so we want to grow this thing out. We want to grow this thing into doing live events.
"Building a culture with our fans where we can include our fans in the process. We're going to take the show on the road. We're going down to Tulum to do a big Bills weekend at my friend's resort down there.
"We're taking the show on the road to Vegas for the Bills this weekend. We're going to take the show on the road to Vegas for the Denver game at the end of the season.
“What we're going to try and do is do a live show with the Raiders, raid it with Raiders fans, incorporate the whole Raiders weekend into it.
"I'll be the Grand Marshal of the Black Hole Parade from the Mandalay Bay over to the stadium, get the fans fired up.
"So we want to build this thing into people that are passionate about football, that like listening to me and Christian talk about the game, and then just continue to grow it. Continue to grow our presence online. Continue to grow our presence in live events.”
Richie Incognito spoke exclusively with DJ Siddiqi on behalf of Covers.com. All quotes in this article are taken from an exclusive interview conducted by Covers.com. Journalists and media outlets are welcome to use these quotes, provided they are attributed to Covers.com. Please ensure links back to the original article to provide full context for readers.
