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For the second time in his very troubled career, Richie Incognito will make the Buffalo Bills the first pit stop on his road back from the bottom.
ESPN's James Walker reports that Incognito is in Orchard Park for a physical, and Tim Graham of The Buffalo News reports that said physical is merely a formality, and that the Bills and Rex Ryan have every intention of adding Incognito to the roster.
Incognito, who will turn 32 in July, has not appeared in a NFL game since November of 2013, when the league promptly suspended him as he emerged at the center of a bullying scandal with the Miami Dolphins that included fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin. Incognito was ultimately issued a three-month ban for his involvement in that, a ban which expired in early February of 2014.
Bills have wanted Richie Incognito for quite a while. Good for them. Spent time with him at Super Bowl. He's in a very good place right now.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) February 7, 2015
Now he will apparently return to Buffalo, who gave him a shot late in the 2009 season after his antics forced the St. Louis Rams - the team that drafted him in 2005 - to cut him. His short stint with Buffalo then landed him a starting gig, and parlayed that into a free agent deal and a starting gig with the Dolphins, where he played from 2010-13.
Buffalo is in desperate need of help at guard, and in the full season prior to Incognito's latest bout of trouble, he was a Pro Bowl player. The 6'3", 319-pound veteran has the physical skills and the on-field demeanor to fit snugly into the run-first, physical, power running offense that Ryan and offensive coordinator Greg Roman envision for the team. Whether or not he'll be a starter in Buffalo depends on what else the team does to fortify the position this offseason, but there's no doubt that if the season started tomorrow, he'd be in the lineup. The moment he signs his deal, he is the Bills' best offensive guard.
How do you feel about Incognito making his NFL comeback in Buffalo after a year out of the league, Bills fans?