AP

It wasn’t long ago that Richie Incognito was a pariah in the NFL, out of the league after he was banished from the Dolphins for bullying teammate Jonathan Martin. Now Incognito is playing well in Buffalo, and thanking the Bills for giving him the chance to return.

“I’m playing good football right now. I’m playing sound. I’m playing physical. This is by far the best football of my career,” Incognito said. “[The franchise] has done a great job of backing me up, from the top down. From Kim and Terry Pegula, to Doug and his staff, and the coaches, and my teammates, they’ve done a great job of embracing me and supporting me and giving me an opportunity to come here and prove that I can be a good teammate and contribute.”

Bills G.M. Doug Whaley is talking up Incognito as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate.

“He’s had better guard play this year than I’ve seen scouting him for the last five or six years,” Whaley said. “He’s impressed all of us, and I would say . . . he should be a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year. He has to be mentioned as a top five guard in the league.”

Giving Incognito the Comeback Player of the Year award when what he’s coming back from was a situation of his own doing wouldn’t sit well with a lot of people. But there’s little doubt that Incognito has come all the way back from out of the league to playing as well as he’s ever played.