It’s time for Mara & Reese to stop dragging feet

The Giants’ signing of kicker Randy Bullock on Monday was, at the very least, a direct response to inexperienced backup Tom Obarski missing a 27-yard chip shot wide left Saturday in Buffalo. Starter Josh Brown is suspended for Week 1 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy due to a May 2015 domestic violence arrest. The Giants need to have confidence in their kicker on Sept. 11 in Dallas. So they waived Obarski and signed Bullock, chancing it with a more experienced player for that limited role.

And maybe that’s all there is to this move — or maybe it’s a sign the Giants intend to cut Brown after all.

Since owner John Mara and GM Jerry Reese refuse to explain Brown’s continued employment, and since Brown was unavailable for comment on Monday, only the Giants’ actions did the talking on the issue of whether they intend to keep Brown on this roster for Week 2 and beyond.

Bullock’s signing, in that light, was eyebrow-raising because he is a vested veteran, a fact first reported by the Daily News on Monday afternoon. In other words, Bullock has four credited NFL seasons, which means if he is on the Giants’ Week 1 roster, his full season salary would be guaranteed.

It doesn’t add up that the Giants would commit a full-season salary to Bullock for just one week of work. Signing a vested veteran in Bullock — instead of someone they could cut im- mediately after playing the Cowboys at little cost — could mean the organization has made up its mind to release Brown for good.

Or maybe it simply means Bullock was that much better in the Giants’ eyes than any of their alternatives, and therefore worth the price.

If the Giants have decided to cut Brown, though, one would think they’d do it soon. The optics would be even worse than they already are if they were to audition Bullock these final two preseason games and, if they liked what they saw, only then released the 37-year-old veteran Brown.

Either they stand up to Brown’s extensive alleged domestic violence history now or they don’t. A few missed field goals by Bullock in the preseason should not dictate how the Giants react here.

This is why Mara and Reese, especially Mara, need to address this matter publicly. There is a chance that the Giants resigned Brown this past offseason believing his May 2015 arrest had been the only incident in his past, or just “a moment,” as Brown said himself last week.

There is a possibility the Giants then left the investigation and discipline entirely up to the NFL and only learned of Brown’s 20-plus additional alleged incidents when the Daily News reported them on Thursday. Perhaps Mara is still trying to get a grasp on the details and on the truth.

The NFL certainly dropped the ball by giving Brown only a one-game suspension, but the Giants still have an opportunity to do the right thing, especially if Thursday was the first time they had all of the information on what allegedly took place. No one knows if that’s case. Bullock’s signing obviously addresses a weakness in kicking depth behind Brown. Acquiescing to pay a kicker a full-season’s salary for one week of work would seem unlikely. The move may reveal the Giants’ intentions of removing Brown from their Broster completely. ut if Brown is still on the sidelines for Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets, and if Mara and Reese haven’t talked by then, that could indicate that Bullock’s acquisition is just an expensive one-week insurance plan and nothing more.

Which would be both shocking and shameful.