Arizona Cardinals’ Michael Bidwill not worried about bullying in team’s locker room

Bullying in the NFL?

The recent events surrounding Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin, who took a leave from the team last week after allegations of bullying surfaced, have shed light on a new issue around the league.

Monday, Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito, a Glendale Mountain Ridge High graduate, was suspended indefinitely as the team and the NFL look into his involvement in the Martin situation.

Arizona Cardinals president Michael Bidwill joined Doug and Wolf Monday morning and said he’s not too worried about the situation repeating itself in his team’s locker room because of the organization’s belief in stocking the roster with the right kind of people.

“One of the things that we put an emphasis on, and have for years, is drafting quality football players that are also high-character people,” Bidwill said. “When you’re drafting high-character people, you don’t have people not treating other people with respect in the locker room.

“I think (GM) Steve (Keim) has done a good job of identifying high-character players to come on to our team.”

Bidwill also didn’t sound shocked about the news of Incognito’s suspension, citing past issues.

“Richie Incognito’s a guy that has a lot of talent, but he had questions coming out of school about his character. He’s been flagged a lot for unnecessary roughness and things like that,” Bidwill said.

According to Bidwill, sometimes a player’s apparent talent isn’t worth the headaches he’ll bring to an organization.

“For me, it’s really about sticking to your philosophy and that your philosophy works for you and you just don’t go after a guy who appears to be talented,” he said. “When you bring in talented guys who don’t have high character, you can have other problems in your locker room on and off the field.”

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