Like It or Not, Jerks Like Incognito Get the Benefit of the Doubt from Teammates

There are plenty of guys in any NFL locker room who you wouldn't invite over to your house for dinner with the family. 

Maybe it's a veteran bully who preys on young rookies and insecure teammates. Maybe it's a player with serious issues in his home life. Maybe it's a guy who uses bible study attendance as a fake front. Or maybe it's all three, rolled up in one package. 

This past Friday, the Buffalo Bills and new head coach Rex Ryan signed a player, Richie Incognito, who will fall into at least one of those categories in his new teammates' eyes.

Will those teammates be surprised by the signing? Shocked? Even a little appalled?

Nah. Not in the least. This is business as usual in the NFL, and the players know it.

Bills players will of course have read all of those reports on how the veteran offensive guard bullied Dolphins linemate Jonathan Martin until the young man broke down during the 2013 season. But they'll see the signing for what it is: a low-risk move—a one-year contract loaded with incentives—to land a player who could potentially help them win.

As one player (not a member of the Bills) told me this week, the question that teammates will ask is, "Can he ball?"—not whether he'd be fun to hang out with off the field.

"Otherwise, why waste our time?" the player said. "Coaches and general managers always gamble for upside."

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That upside for the Bills is Incognito's ability to play nasty at the point of attack in the run game while helping Ryan establish a physical culture on his new football team. The Bills needed help at offensive guard, and Incognito is considered an upgrade when looking at the current roster Ryan just inherited.

Given the incidents involving Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy during a brutal NFL season off the field in 2014, this move didn't mesh with the league's desire to improve its public image. So as you'd expect, the media reaction has been severe, condemning the Bills for signing, in the words of colleague Mike Freeman, "a proven, historic bully and an alleged sexual assaulter, at a time when the NFL is trying to change its image from a league full of people like that."

But the majority of players just don't think that way. Most are willing to give a guy another shot—no matter how many he's already had—and another opportunity to prove himself in a new football environment, if he can buy into the program.

Granted, Incognito's actions were on another level. As a player, I never saw anything like what he did to Martin in Miami. I asked other current and former players this week, and they said the same. 

Minor incidents go down in every locker room: We all experienced rookie hazing and saw vets occasionally act like junior high bullies to get a rise out of teammates. But what was happening in Miami was real meathead stuff, immaturity that should have been shut down immediately by the leaders in that locker room.

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But even with that being the case, Bills teammates will give Incognito the benefit of the doubt when he shows up this spring for offseason workouts.

Same for Hardy. Peterson, too. And Rice, if he gets another chance. Talent sells, and character is just something we talk about for guys who can't produce at a necessary level to stick in the league.

Being in the NFL is a job. Teammates don't have to hang with Incognito outside of the facility or even like the guy. This isn't college ball, where everyone hits the same campus spots and eats together at the training table every night. In the pros, you work hard for your teammates and support each other on the field regardless of personal opinions. Relationships are formed through winning when the lights are on at the stadium.

We won't know until Ryan has his team on the field during the regular season, but Incognito might be a key piece to that offensive line in Buffalo. That's how teammates view him right now. Even if Incognito displays small signs of immaturity, teammates will roll with it if he has the type of "on-the-field" character that helps you win games. 

All that said, could this move backfire? Absolutely.

I'm sure there are plenty of Bills players anxious to see if Incognito has changed at all once he arrives in Orchard Park. He'll get the benefit of the doubt, but everyone knows he might not deserve it. If he doesn't play well or if he starts causing trouble in the locker room, players will turn on him, and it might affect team chemistry.

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It takes a strong locker room for this type of move to produce results. That's why not every team is willing to take on a player like Incognito. Yes, we hear coaches talk all the time about how their culture can support guys with off-field concerns, but when trust is broken, those concerns about the player become real issues that impact the entire team's structure.

But until and unless that happens, teammates will give Incognito another shot to play a positive brand of football on Sundays.

Maybe the dinner invite won't land in Incognito's locker anytime soon, but that doesn't mean players won't work with the guy if he helps them win.  

Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.

Follow @MattBowen41