Richie Incognito was originally a third-round pick of the Rams in 2005.

He played briefly for the Bills in 2009 then joined the Miami Dolphins in 2010.

Incognito has now earned four career Pro Bowl berths, including all three of his years in Buffalo.

ORCHARD PARK – Eric Wood remembers the encounter like it was yesterday. He was out for dinner in the Phoenix area the week of Super Bowl XLIX in January 2015, and he bumped into Richie Incognito, who had been his teammate for three games late in 2009, Wood’s rookie season with the Bills.

At the time, Incognito was out of the NFL, having been banished since the middle of the 2013 season due to his involvement in a bullying scandal involving his former Miami teammate, Jonathan Martin, and with the Super Bowl in his hometown, he was making the rounds in search of a new team.

“I knew Richie prior to the suspension, I knew what he was all about, what type of player he was, what type of person he was,” Wood said the other day after learning that Incognito had been selected to the AFC Pro Bowl squad for the third consecutive year. “Me and Doug Whaley had a conversation about him, and there was some mutual interest. So, we had talked to each other Super Bowl week out in Arizona and I told him, ‘You’re the type of guard I’d like to get into Buffalo.’ ”

Incognito, who had enjoyed his brief stint in Buffalo at the end of 2009 after he’d been released by the Rams and before he signed a free-agent deal with the Dolphins, took that to heart. He met with Terry and Kim Pegula, who had just taken over ownership of the Bills in late 2014, and they agreed to give him a chance to alter the narrative of his career.

“We are convinced that Richie is prepared to move forward and has and will continue to take the necessary steps to improve himself as a person and a teammate,” the Pegulas said in a statement.

Turns out they were right. The Bills haven’t yet made the playoffs with Incognito on the team, but he has been a tremendous asset both on the field with his Pro Bowl-level performance, and as a trusted veteran leader in the locker room, a player that other players gravitate toward and rely on.

“It has really just been a good fit,” Incognito said, reflecting on his three years in Buffalo. “Terry and Kim Pegula extended an opportunity for me to establish myself back in the league. Rex (Ryan) and Doug Whaley provided me the opportunity and I wanted to make right on it.

"When we originally talked about this, we talked about making a positive out of this. One of the big things was controlling what I can control, being a good teammate, and playing well on the field. I held up my end of the bargain and it’s nice to be rewarded.”

Incognito’s career was in the dumpster when the Dolphins suspended him for the second half of 2013. Then, when no team was willing to sign him and he sat out all of 2014, there seemed little hope of it resuming.

Incognito had known anger issues during his college days at Nebraska, and one of the reasons why the Rams let him go was his propensity to take personal foul penalties. After seemingly moving past those problems during his first three years with the Dolphins, which included his first Pro Bowl invitation, the Martin scandal broke.

The NFL hired attorney Ted Wells — he of New England Patriots “Deflategate” fame — to investigate the matter. And like Wells found the Patriots guilty, so, too, did he determine that Incognito was the primary culprit in the mistreatment of Martin, an African-American player.

Martin left the Dolphins shortly after the trouble came to light and he alleged that Incognito harassed him into paying $15,000 for a trip to Las Vegas, and that Incognito made racial slurs about Martin’s mother and sister. In a 144-page report, Wells said other members of the Dolphins were also involved, but Incognito ultimately paid the biggest price.

All along, Incognito has said the whole thing was blown way out of proportion and that his treatment of Martin was no different than anything that occurs in other locker rooms around the league.

“I wasn’t around the situation in Miami, but I had a sense of what went down, and I thought he’d be fine here,” said Wood.

Like Wood, Buffalo backup offensive lineman Ryan Groy was nowhere near the Miami locker room when all this happened, but he agreed that it’s likely that "good-natured ribbing" that Incognito is known for in the locker room might have resulted in a line being crossed.

"Not pointing fingers at anybody," Groy said. "(But) if someone is being offensive and you’re taking offense to it, then speak up, and I guess that’s what happened.”

Since he’s been in Buffalo, Incognito has been a model citizen, all the while getting better as a player.

“For him to stay focused all that time (when he was idle) and not just say, ‘it’s over with, I’m gonna get big and out of shape and mope and pout’ was impressive," Wood said. "That year he was out, he was training hard and when he came back here, he didn’t look like a 31-year-old. He was ready to roll.

"No hiccups since he’s been here, and I’d say most guys, if not everyone on the team, enjoys being around him, enjoys playing with him. It was a smart move by the Pegulas.”

In his first two seasons with the team, the Bills led the NFL in rushing with Incognito playing a major role as a powerful man-on-man blocker who could get out in space and act as a plow in front of LeSean McCoy. The Bills altered their blocking scheme this season and it has taken some getting used to, but after some early struggles they are now ranked sixth in rushing. McCoy — who joined the Bills a couple months after Incognito — has topped 1,000 yards rushing for the third year in a row and, like Incognito, is going to his third straight Pro Bowl.

“Richie, his reputation as being a dog, as being a tough lineman, physical — he deserves it,” said McCoy. “I’m happy he’ll be there with me.”

Rex Ryan loved having Incognito in his locker room, and new Bills coach Sean McDermott understands why. “Yeah, the veteran leadership has been important, number one,” he said. But on the field, McDermott added, “The grit that Richie brings to the table, I feel like was important or I felt like was important for us to establish in our first year here, being a resilient football team. I think you’ve seen that throughout our year so far. He’s been a big part of it.”

Now 34, Incognito has one year remaining on his contract, and he will count $7.5 million against the salary cap in 2018. This is a new age in Buffalo, and McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have made numerous big moves with the roster, but it seems foolhardy to think Incognito won’t be back next year because his level of play remains high.

This much we know: Incognito wants to stay because Buffalo is his kind of town.

“I personify so much of the city of Buffalo, the grit, the hard work, the mentality, the tough-minded mentality,” he said. “This has been a good fit for me. It's just been special, a great place as far as the organization and players, welcoming me and letting me blossom into a leader and a good teammate."

MAIORANA@Gannett.com