3 Pairs of NFL Teammates Who Hated Each Other
By
Richard Janvrin
Contributor Updated: 10 February 2025
Richard Janvrin Contributor
Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today.
NFL Teammates Who Didn’t See Eye to Eye
While an NFL team works together toward a common goal—winning a Super Bowl—there are times when some teammates on the 53-man active roster simply just don’t get along.
After all, we’ve worked at a job where we simply don’t get along with people. Not all personalities clash well.
However, there are some teammates that have genuine disdain for another.
You may have even bet on them at some of the top NFL online sportsbooks, be it player props or their team.
Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito
To kick off this of NFL teammates who hated each other, none is arguably more apparent than Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito.
The incident surrounding them is labeled as “Bullygate” and was considered a massive scandal at the time.
Incognito and Martin are both offensive linemen. Incognito has always had a reputation for being aggressive, and from 2010 to 2013, he played for the Miami Dolphins.
In 2012, the Dolphins drafted Martin with the No. 42 overall pick in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Just a year later, in 2013, Martin abruptly left the team. He didn’t initially point any fingers, but it was due to emotional distress and the locker room.
From there, reports surfaced that Incognito had harassed Martin during their tenure together.
The harassment included offensive text messages and verbal abuse, including insulting Martin’s intelligence and toughness, leaving threatening voicemails, making remarks about Martin’s mother and sister, and peer pressured him into activities he wasn’t comfortable with.
After he left, he didn’t return for the rest of the season.
The NFL suspended Incognito indefinitely, and an independent investigation led by Ted Wells unfolded.
His report, released in February 2014, found that Incognito, Mike Pouncey, and John Jerry harassed Martin and other members of the Dolphins staff.
Incognito missed the 2014 season before resurfacing in 2015 with the Buffalo Bills. He retired in 2022.
Martin was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in 2014 but retired in 2015, citing mental health issues that stemmed from his time with the Dolphins.
Needless to say, this was a messy circumstance that seemingly prematurely ended Martin’s career.
Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers
While Aaron Rodgers has gone on record about him and Brett Favre making up, the start to Rodgers’ career wasn’t exactly a warm welcome.
To say these were NFL teammates who hated each other would be an overstatement, but it wasn’t friendly.
In the 2005 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers were drafting No. 24 overall.
Rodgers, a top prospect out of California, was projected as the potential No. 1 overall pick, but he continued to fall down the draft board until the Packers, who already have a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers on the roster.
When Rodgers was drafted, Favre made it clear he wasn’t going to directly mentor Rodgers saying, “My contract doesn’t say I have to get Aaron Rodgers ready to play. Now, hopefully, he watches me and gets something out of that.”
Rodgers spent multiple seasons on the bench as Favre continued to play well enough.
Then, in 2008, Favre retired, but famously unretired and wanted to come back to the Packers. However, the Packers chose Rodgers and eventually traded Favre to the New York Jets.
Ironically, Rodgers would become old enough that would prompt the Packers to draft his heir apparent, Jordan Love, and yes, he was also traded to the Jets ahead of the 2023 season.
In Rodgers’ Netflix documentary “Enigma,” the two chatted about the relationship.
“Our relationship, I thought, was good, in spite of what people might say,” Favre told Rodgers. “I think it surprises some people that when I said that ‘they don’t pay me to mentor’ or however it was said … I wasn’t saying, ‘Screw him,’ but I think a lot of people thought that. ‘How dare he not help that kid along?’ Sure, I would help. If you asked the question, then I can answer.”
Rodgers agreed but said there were bids for connection.
“I would drop hints all the time, like, if you ever need anybody to scare out some deer when you’re hunting, let me know; I’m not doing anything,” he said.
Again, not exactly football teammate hate, but these two were far from friends as Rodgers was trying to push to be the starter while Favre wasn’t about to let anyone take his job.
Geno Smith and IK Enemkpali
The most recent incident on this list was one where two players actually came to blows, with one of them leaving the altercation with a broken jaw.
To say there is NFL teammate hate here is an understatement.
I’m referring to the New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith and defensive end IK Enemkpali.
The incident started over a $600 debt Enemkpali claimed Smith owed him. It was about a plane ticket to a camp Smith didn’t attend.
Enemkpali asked Smith about the money, and it escalated to the men coming to blows.
Enemkpali landed a punch on Smith that broke his jaw and kept him out for numerous weeks.
He was known for his violent outbursts. When he was 19 in 2011, he was sentenced to 13 months probation and 32 hours of community service for throwing a punch at a security guard.
Following this, Enemkpali was released, and Smith underwent surgery. He missed the start of the 2015 campaign.
This led to Ryan Fitzpatrick getting the job, the Jets going 10-6, and Smith not getting his job back.
This was a massive deal. Smith was a second-round pick and the starting quarterback, while Enemkpali was a sixth-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Enemkpali ended up playing for the Bills, but it took Smith several years to find a starting job again, landing with the Seattle Seahawks in 2019.
As for Enemkpali, he played 146 snaps in 2015 and recorded 12 tackles. He never played another down.
He got into another fight, this time with the Bills, in 2016 with teammate Cyrus Kouandijo at training camp. He suffered a knee injury in the first preseason game. He tore his ACL.
Finally, he was on the Oakland Raiders for about a month before being cut and never signing with another team.
There’s no NFL player feud as Enemkpali isn’t in the league, but there certainly would be if he was.
