The St. Louis Rams cut ties with Richie Incognito on Dec. 15, 2009. It was a Tuesday, just after a 47-7 loss to the Tennessee Titans that saw the troubled lineman get called for two personal foul penalties. Nobody was upset to see him leave. His antics, from tormenting the crowd to letting his rage get the better of him, had become too much, even for a one-win team.
That Steve Spagnuolo's first year as a head coach and Billy Devaney's first year as general manager. Devaney had been with the Rams the season before too, as a personnel guy. It gave him more than enough time to get acquainted with Incognito, the team's third-round pick from 2005.
Devaney was on SiriusXM on Tuesday to discuss his former player.
"His issues were anger management," Devaney told Adam Schein. "He'd let his anger get the better of him at the worst time, on the field directed at officials or opponents, every once in a while in practice toward one of his teammates. That's what we were dealing with, and that's enough.
"What I see now, coming out of Miami, that's a whole 'nother level of disgust, quite frankly."
Devaney goes on to make a pretty good point about how the situation escaped the attention of the coaches. And that's where the NFL's investigation into the whole affair could get dicey for the Dolphins.
The full interview is posted below.
Oh, and in case you forgot, here's Incognito's parting shot to the fans here:
With the fine of 50 grand, I would have gladly paid more to get out of that situation in St. Louis. So I chalk it up to that.