San Francisco 49ers: Former lineman detained after disturbing online threat

Former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Jonathan Martin has reportedly been taken into custody following a threatening post on social media.

Former San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin has added another chapter to what has been a very sad personal story.

Martin, if you recall – then a member of the Miami Dolphins who drafted him in 2012 with the forty-second overall pick – was at the center of a bullying scandal that involved teammates Richie Incognito, John Jerry, and Mike Pouncey.

It was a scandal that led to several firings within the Dolphins organization, and Incognito being essentially banished from football when text messages and voicemails with racial and even threats of violence emerged.

Incognito, who had plenty of personal issues of his own, was out of football for the entire 2014 season as he sought to get his own life on track.

Once he seemed to be in a better place, the Buffalo Bills took a chance and brought him in back in 2015, and he’s been with them ever since.

Jerry left Miami, signing with the New York Giants in 2014 – and signed a three-year extension in March 2017. Pouncey is still with the Dolphins.

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In March 2014 though, after vowing he wouldn’t return to the Dolphins, the 49ers sent a seventh-round pick to Miami for Martin, reuniting the big tackle with his college coach, Jim Harbaugh.

Martin struggled though and was released a year later. The Carolina Panthers claimed him on waivers, but Martin opted to retire, citing an injury to his back that would have kept him from playing for the entire 2015 season.

And that was the last we’d heard from Jonathan Martin for a long while.

But, just days after 17 students were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Martin resurfaced in possibly, one of the most disturbing ways possible.

In a posting on social media, Martin posted a picture of a shotgun and shells, with the name of his own high school #HarvardWestlake and the #MiamiDolphins listed on the gun.

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Perhaps even more disturbing was the text he inscribed on the image.

"“When you’re a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge.”"

He also tagged former teammates Mike Pouncey, Richie Incognito, and James Dunleavy, with whom he’d attended Harvard-Westlake, a private school in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.

According to a piece that ran in USA TODAY Sports, Martin was in the process of attempting to check himself into the hospital when he was detained by authorities.

In a statement, an LAPD spokesperson said:

"“The individual we believe responsible for the social media post in question has been detained and our investigation is ongoing.”"

In response to the posting and the potential threat being made, Harvard-Westlake was shut down for the day in an effort to protect the students and staff.

We can only hope that Martin is able to get the help he so obviously needs and can get his personal life back on track. We can only hope that this sad, disturbing chapter in an even sadder tale is one that doesn’t have a tragic ending for anybody.