Giants’ Brown put on exempt list
Kicker will be paid as league investigates domestic abuse claims
The NFL placed Josh Brown on paid leave Friday hours after coach Ben McAdoo struggled to answer questions about how the New York Giants might discipline the kicker for abusing his wife.
In a letter to the 14-year veteran, NFL senior vice president of labor policy Adolpho Birch said Brown was being placed on the league’s “exempt list” while the league investigates whether he should be suspended as punishment for several alleged acts of spousal abuse. Birch said the move “does not represent a finding that you have violated the personal conduct policy,” but does pave the way toward potential further sanctions.
Being placed on commissioner Roger Goodell’s “exempt” list means Brown cannot attend practices or Giants games but can go to Giants headquarters for meetings and workouts. It also means Brown continues to be paid and his presence won’t be counted on the Giants’ 53-man roster.
The questions about how much the Giants knew about Brown’s off-field troubles have overshadowed preparations for Sunday’s game in London against the Los Angeles Rams.
Brown did not travel to London following Wednesday’s release of police records which contained the player’s written admissions that he physically abused his wife, Molly, over a protracted period. She told police in the documents released by the King County Sheriff’s Office in Washington state that the abuse and other threatening behavior stretched from 2009, when she was pregnant with their daughter, to the Pro Bowl in January 2016.
At the Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Brown’s wife said she called NFL security to move her and her three children to another hotel to avoid harassment from her estranged husband. She said he had pounded on their hotel door seeking to get in. The allegation is included in the final report filed last month by the local investigating detective, Robin Ostrum.
Brown’s former wife did not respond to messages seeking comment from The Associated Press. A law firm representing the kicker also declined to comment.
The NFL’s official policy is to suspend players guilty of domestic abuse for six games on their first offense. Brown was suspended for one game, the Giants’ season-opening victory over the Dallas Cowboys, in punishment for his May 2015 arrest at his family home in Woodinville, Washington, on suspicion of assaulting his wife by grabbing one of her wrists as she tried to reach for a phone, leaving an abrasion and bruising. No charges were filed but the detective, Ostrum, gathered
detailed statements from Molly Brown who also provided her husband’s written admissions of abuse in diary and email entries.
The NFL said its investigators asked to see these records but were denied.
The Giants have signed kicker Robbie Gould, an 11year veteran of the Chicago Bears who was cut in September.
Bills: Running back LeSean McCoy, the league’s second-leading rusher, is questionable and will be a game-time decision for Buffalo’s upcoming game against the Miami Dolphins. McCoy said the injury is to his left hamstring, the same hamstring he injured last season. McCoy returned to practice on a limited basis Friday after sitting out Thursday.
Steelers: The team filed a formal complaint with the NFL and asked the league to look into Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh kicking Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in his right knee late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game in Miami.
Obit: Morris Stroud Jr., a tight end for the Chiefs, died Oct. 17 in Kansas City. He was 70. Stroud spent six seasons with the Chiefs, from 1969-1974. At 6-foot10, Stroud was among the tallest players in NFL history. Chiefs coach Hank Stram used Stroud on field-goal coverage teams, placing Stroud under the goalpost to bat away balls approaching the crossbar. That’s no longer allowed after the NFL created the “Stroud Rule,” which states “Goaltending by any player leaping up to deflect a kick as it passes above the crossbar is prohibited.”
Fines: New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was fined $24,309 for taking off his helmet during a touchdown celebration last Sunday against Baltimore. After scoring the go-ahead 66-yard TD with 1:24 left in the Giants’ 2723 win, Beckham drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he removed his helmet while in the back of the end zone. He then ran toward the sideline, tossed his helmet and kept celebrating.
Bears: After quarterback Brian Hoyer suffered a broken left arm against the Green Bay Packers in a 26-10 loss Thursday night, Jay Cutler’s return as the team’s starter appears inevitable. Cutler has been at practice without a brace or cast on the thumb in recent weeks but has taken part in only one team workout since suffering the injury Sept. 19. With the Bears off until Oct. 31, Cutler will have more time to recover and possibly start ahead of third-string quarterback Matt Barkley.