Many people have differing opinions on Richie Incognito, but one thing is for certain — he has personality.
The former longtime offensive lineman cemented himself as one of the best guards in the NFL in a career that spanned from 2005 until 2021. The 43-year-old was a four-time Pro Bowler and actually enjoyed his best years in the later half of his career with the Buffalo Bills, clinching three consecutive Pro Bowls from 2015 until 2017.
Incognito is probably remembered by many NFL fans for his Miami Dolphins tenure with the Jonathan Martin bullying incident over a decade prior. But he has since bounced back from that and not only ended his NFL career on a positive note, but he’s making a name for himself in his post-playing career as a media figure in the podcast space.
The four-time Pro Bowler recently joined Playmaker’s lineup of podcast shows for the Fall season, teaming up with former New England Patriots and Super Bowl tight end Christian Fauria for their Initial Contact Show.
“I got my feet wet in the industry last year,” said Incognito in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports. “I did a show to kind of break into the industry. It was a debate show, and I felt like I wanted to do more. I felt like a debate show is very closed ended. It’s very closed loop. You make a statement, you have to live by it all year. I wanted to have great football conversations with football minds, guys that have played the game, guys that have been in the trenches, and I wanted to have well-rounded conversations.
“The debate angle is you make your case and you have to die on that hill,” Incognito continued. “What I wanted to do is have conversations where we break down film, we break down strategy. I bring the locker room angle, bring all of my years of experience, bring Christians’ years of experience.”
Why Richie Incognito and Christian Fauria’s Contrasting Personalities Work
The show is an interesting one because it combines Incognito and his blunt assessment of popular players and figures with Fauria’s more straight-laced personality. Fauria has a deep background as a media figure, previously working for radio station WEEI and as a college football analyst for CBS Sports Network.
For example, in a recent episode about the Los Angeles Chargers‘ disappointing 0-5 start, Incognito straight up analyzes that the Chargers should fire first-year offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel if they want a plausible chance at salvaging Jim Harbaugh’s job in the future. There’s no punches pulled and there’s a bunch of entertaining expletives involved.
Meanwhile, Fauria displays some humor while mentioning the Chargers are far down the list of priorities in Los Angeles and mentions the things he’d rather do than watch a Chargers home game.
Incognito has made appearances on television over the years, but this is his first deep dive as a podcast host.
“I think Christian and I are building some really good chemistry because Christian has a background in media,” said Incognito. “He’s been doing it a lot longer than I have. He has a great pedigree, and when we were putting the show together, we just thought Christian would be a perfect complement to me. I’m more all gas, no breaks, just like my playing career. And Christian’s more buttoned up, the professor, he’s very cerebral.”
When asked what exactly is the long-term objective of the podcast, Incognito kept it blunt and simple as he normally does — grow this thing, grow the audience and travel and meet football fans.
“We want to just grow this thing,” said Incognito. “Year one is all about audience growth. We want to put out great content every week, get it spinning on all the social channels, attract eyeballs to us just because we’re putting out great content. We work really hard on the content piece of this thing, so we want to grow this thing out. We want to grow this thing into doing live events. Building a culture with our fans where we can include our fans in the process. We’re going to take the show on the road. We’re going down to Tulum to do a big Bills weekend at my friend’s resort down there. We’re taking the show on the road to Vegas for the Bills this weekend. We’re going to take the show on the road to Vegas for the Denver game at the end of the season.
“What we’re going to try and do is do a live show with the Raiders, raid it with Raiders fans, incorporate the whole Raiders weekend into it,” Incognito continued. “I’ll be the Grand Marshal of the Black Hole Parade from the Mandalay Bay over to the stadium, get the fans fired up. We want to build this thing into people that are passionate about football, that like listening to me and Christian talk about the game, and then just continue to grow it. Continue to grow our presence online. Continue to grow our presence in live events. Traveling the show and being out at the Super Bowl, including some great football minds. We have a bunch of friends that have played, and we want to get them involved in the show.”
Richie Incognito on Podcast: Perfect Time to Do It
Incognito mentions Colin Cowherd, Shannon Sharpe and Rich Eisen as some of his favorite podcasting personalities. The former offensive lineman doubles down on why it’s the perfect time to do a podcast since the media space has become all about content creation.
“The landscape right now is why it’s so exciting,” said Incognito. “We’re teamed up with Playmaker and we can bring these media properties direct to fans via YouTube via social media. When I got done playing, that really wasn’t the deal. The industry was kind of shifting from major cable letter networks. Now, after COVID, it’s shifted to content creation, conversations. It’s more of instead of tuning into a letter network, watching your favorite guys do it. Now it’s like you’re inviting them into your home. You’re inviting them into your crew to talk ball and have a good time. I always wanted to do sports media.”
Ex-Dolphins Star Richie Incognito on Post-Playing Career, His New Podcast