Ax drops after team can’t talk
THE GIANTS made sure no players could comment on the team’s decision to cut Josh Brown. Big Blue held availability in the locker room from roughly 12:15 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. Tuesday, as players prepared to embark on their upcoming bye week. The Giants then announced they’d released Brown just after 2:30 p.m. Players won’t be required to speak again until Big Blue resumes practicing on Monday.
Before the announcement, though, several players were asked about Brown’s extensive domestic violence history and what kind of conversations have gone on among teammates.
“Just understanding all the facts and getting all the information we can,” Victor Cruz said. “Some of us have our opinion on it that I’ll leave in the locker room. So we’ll just leave it at that.”
When asked for his opinion, Cruz made it clear he was fed up.
“Next question,” Cruz snapped. “You guys have already asked me about that at length. Domestic violence is disgusting. It’s not something that I stand by at all, and I’d prefer it if you guys don’t ask me any more questions about Josh Brown.”
Cruz has changed his tone on Brown. He initially voiced his support for the kicker on Thursday after Washington police released a wave of new documents with grim and horrific details of Brown’s domestic violence history.
“Obviously, it is an unfortunate situation for all parties,” Cruz said then. “But as a teammate, I am behind Josh Brown. I just want him to get himself right and make sure that he is able to overcome these things. It is not an easy thing, obviously, involving his personal life. But as an individual, I just want him to overcome and see where it goes.”
Eli Manning said he wasn’t aware of any developments on Brown’s status with the organization. “We’ve got to worry about the game,” Manning said. “Our focus is on preparing for the next team, going out there and doing our job. I think the guys have done a good job doing that.”
IT TOOK one arrest for domestic violence, one drunken night at the Pro Bowl, two releases of damning documents and unprecedented public outrage for the Giants to finally cut Josh Brown. Who will be the next Molly Brown to come forward when the NFL and its teams still don’t get it? Which highly respected NFL owner will follow John Mara and painfully admit they were misguided in handling domestic violence? When will Roger Goodell learn strong words and threatening new policies must be backed up by decisive and meaningful action to avoid being just empty promises?
If Mara, who I’ve known for three decades as an honorable man with a strong conscience, can lose his way so badly despite having the blueprint of the Ray Rice crisis of 2014 to guide him, then no progress has been made by the NFL the last two years.
“We believed we did the right thing at every juncture in our relationship with Josh,” Mara said in a statement Tuesday. “Our beliefs, our judgments and our decisions were misguided. We accept that responsibility.”
The Ravens cut Rice seven months after he slugged his future wife in an elevator. Unfortunately, they didn’t make a move until the gruesome and now infamous second elevator video was released. It took the Giants an inexplicable 17 months to get rid of Brown – and only after shocking new documents were released last week — and they even gave him a two-year $4 million contract with a raise less than one year after he was arrested.
This is about so much more than the money, but Brown will collect every penny of the pro-rated portion of his $1.225 million base salary he was due for the final 10 weeks of the season, according to two sources. That comes to $720,058.
As a vested veteran, his 2016 salary is guaranteed because Brown was activated during the season and he is entitled to file for termination pay to receive the $72,058 in base salary he was due for each week for the