The Raiders took a lot of criticism when they signed offensive guard Richie Incognito a little more than a year ago. Among the team’s harshest critics was the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ann Killion, who accused Incognito of not being a decent human being and insinuated the Raiders were a fraudulent and immoral organization to sign him.
Nevermind the fact that Incognito had been open about his struggles with mental illness for years. He was an easy target and a long list of media types, like Killion, were glad to stand on their soapboxes and cast judgment.
Killion never interviewed Incognito and only knew the stories she had heard about him, but 15 months later, Incognito has proven her and all his doubters wrong. The stories bashing Incognito won’t be erased from the internet (you can still pay to read Killion’s column if you are so inclined), but you can be sure the Raiders aren’t regretting their decision to sign one of the stars of their offensive line. In fact, they have extended his deal since the original contract.
Incognito received the highest Pro Football Focus overall grade of any Raiders offensive linemen in 2019 and he started off this year with the highest overall grade in week one… for the entire Raiders roster.
In just over a year, the 37 year-old went from league castaway to arguably the best offensive guard in football. Just as importantly, he hasn’t been anything close to a troublemaker in his second stint with the NFL.
Killion, on the other hand, was one of lamest commenters on the NFL in 2019 and in 2020 she is arguably the lamest.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Awesome article. It’s easy for reporters like Killien to bash people if they have organizations that don’t require them to do some due diligence, such as investigating stories and sources or interviewing. No doubt that Incognito made mistakes in his attitude toward his former teammate. He apologized before and has stayed out of the fray. Everyone makes mistakes and football players are trained to have that don’t back down alpha male mentality. Indeed it seems like their job often requires them to take on that mentality.
Reporters like Killien need to reflect on whether they made a mistake and own it with an apology. Like I said, everyone makes mistakes.
Oops, sorry, Killion not Killien.
Great article and dead on. Richie had some dark DARK days but it wasn’t because he was an ‘evil’ person. He went through some bad stuff and during that time, he didn’t have the tools to deal with it and to compound that, he had some mental illness – which turned into a firestorm. He admitted that he NEEDED help and got help, he stepped up and and he pressed on. He worked hard and took no short cuts. He ‘recovered’.
ANYBODY that slams a person for that… now THAT is an ‘evil’ person.
Nicely done Mr. Incognito, if nothing else, Raider Nation will forever be on your side and routing for you!
People cant pick and choose who they support and empathize with when it comes to mental illness.
The reporter owes this guy a follow up .
Bye the way I’m an Eagles fan my response is not contrived from fandom.
Go head Richie wit yo bad self👍👍👍👍
You a bad *** mofo Richie!!!
Congrats Richie, You were Always meant to be a RAIDER!!!