The way that the New York Giants have handled the Josh Brown issue leading up to Friday has been incredibly inadequate
In what should have been a happy occasion for the New York Giants, who this weekend take their turn at promoting the NFL brand overseas on London while enjoying some team bonding, things have turned ugly thanks to the latest and most disturbing information to date to emerge about kicker Josh Brown’s alleged history of domestic violence.
The Giants, who left Brown behind in the States and not risk escalating what is already a public relations nightmare, had said both in a team statement and via a WFAN radio interview given by co-owner John Mara Thursday things indicating they wanted to gather more information, which presumable includes thoroughly reviewing the documents which were published by the Daily News, before making any permanent decisions.
Here’s a newsflash: that’s an absolutely horrible choice. They should’ve made a swift decision (possibly prior to even Friday) and made it sooner rather than later.
On Friday, though, the NFL and Giants came to some sort of decision. Brown was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list. In doing so, Brown will still receive his salary and be allowed (by rule) to attend Giants facilities for meetings and such, but won’t be allowed at practices or games. However, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that Brown’s time with the Giants is done and that he will likely never kick again in the NFL.
If that’s ultimately what happens (Brown has three days to appeal being put on the list), then that’s good. However, this whole situation screams of being handled immensely inadequately.
Mara, who knew something went on following Brown’s arrest in May 2015 that led to his one-game suspension by the NFL, also admitted in the WFAN radio interview with Mike Francesa that the Giants knew about an incident at the 2016 Pro Bowl. Per the police report, Molly Brown alleged that an inebriated Brown tried to forcefully gain entry to her hotel room. Said incident that resulted in her being relocated to another room after she notified the league and hotel security
That’s at least two alleged incidents that Mara and the Giants were aware of, yet they still want to gather more information before making a final decision?
“Listen, he’s admitted to us that he has abused his wife in the past. And I think what’s a little unclear is the extent of that,” Mara said in the radio interview. “But what we’ve read about it is obviously disturbing and we think we need to gather some more information before we make a final decision here”
With all due respect to Mara, this isn’t like a knee sprain where there are grades assigned to designate the severity.
Regardless of whether it resulted in an arrest, one incident should have been all that the team, who supposedly has zero tolerance for domestic violence, needed to make an informed decision. This is, after all, a team that has had a long-standing relationship with women’s domestic violence shelter My Sister’s Place. More recently, they’ve also worked with the Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by actress Mariska Hargitay, who last year was an honorary captain at a Giants home game as part of their efforts to raise awareness of domestic violence.
This is also a team whose members, past and present, have participated in PSAs for the national “NO MORE Excuses” for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault campaign. And it’s an organization whose top officials, including Mara as recently as Thursday, and head coach Ben McAdoo, have said is an important issue to them.
Mara, who at times seemed to struggle with finding the right words to answer Francesa’s questions, said that Brown “has been in counseling for a couple of years now” and “he’s making a good faith effort to rehabilitate.”
If that’s the case, if it has been a couple of years—given the timeline of the reports that have come out—and if the allegations are true, then there have been setbacks in Brown’s rehabilitation that should be cause for concern.
McAdoo, at his Friday London press briefing, echoed Mara’s statement about gathering enough information to make an informed decision, adding, “We’re not going to turn our back on Josh. He’s a teammate and a guy we’re hoping makes strides.”
Whether their hands were forced or if they made the decision on their own, the Giants and Brown seem to be parting ways—despite their sentiments. However, the knowledge of the situation contrasted with the image they convey is troubling. It represents a completely skewed and inadequate handling of the situation.
Perhaps Brown can now rehabilitate himself given his reprehensible alleged actions. But the Giants should’ve started that healing process long before they did and/or were forced to by the NFL.