Giants kicker Brown placed on leave over domestic violence rap
>> LONDON: New York Giants kicker Josh Brown was placed on leave on Friday as the National Football League probed domestic violence allegations which have left his career hanging by a thread.
The NFL ordered Brown to be placed on commissioner Roger Goodell’s exempt list, in effect a temporary paid suspension pending the outcome of an investigation.
The decision came after the emergence of police documents in which the troubled kicker admitted years of abusive behaviour towards his wife.
NFL senior vice president Adolpho Birch said in a letter to Brown on Friday the league wants to investigate further after release of the documents stemming from the player’s 2015 arrest.
The move to place the 37-year-old Brown on the exempt list was criticised by the NFL Players Association, claiming the process “lacks transparency”.
Questions have also been raised about how much the NFL knew about the case when it opted to issue Brown with a one-game suspension over the domestic violence allegation.
The NFL has faced scrutiny in recent years over its handling of domestic violence cases, with critics saying the league is not tough enough on perpetrators.
However, NFL commissioner Goodell told the BBC in London, where the Giants are due to play the Los Angeles Rams today, that the league took the issue “incredibly seriously”.
“This is something we’ve been working on with policy changes, to educating our players to make sure they understand how they deal with issues with their family, give them resources to be able to deal with this. But when it happens we’re not going to tolerate it,” Goodell said.
“So we have some new information here, we’ll evaluate that in the context of our policy and we’ll take it from there.”
Goodell left the door open as to whether Brown could have his punishment increased.
“The policy, the way it’s structured right now, is for an incident. And it can be reduced or increased on the basis that first offence is six games, second offence is banishment. So it’s the only policy, the only issue where we have that type of penalty,” Goodell said.
ESPN meanwhile reported that Brown’s career with the Giants was over while other sources questioned whether he would ever kick again in the NFL.
Giants coach Ben McAdoo insisted however the club would not “turn our back on Josh”.
“He’s our teammate,” he said. Former Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould was signed by the Giants on Thursday and flew to London to replace Brown for this weekend’s match at Twickenham.