LONDON — A sordid situation that put a stain on the credibility and reputation of the NFL and the Giants received some overdue clarity Friday when kicker Josh Brown was placed on the Reserve/Commissioner Exempt list, greasing the skids for him never kicking again for the franchise.
The move to boot Brown came on the heels of authorities blaming the league for not conducting a proper investigation into his domestic violence arrest last year that led to a one-game suspension to start the 2016 season.
The Giants made the request for the NFL to place Brown on the exempt list and it was approved by Commissioner Roger Goodell. It is a way to stash a player without having him count against the team’s 53-man roster while he awaits a pending legal case or is otherwise deemed too hot to handle.
Most recently, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy were put on the exempt list and now Brown joins that infamous group for his domestic violence history. Only Goodell determines how long a player remains on the list. The expectation with Brown, according to a source, is the 37-year-old will stay on it the remainder of the season, he likely never will appear again in a Giants uniform and his NFL career is finished.
Brown was informed via a letter from Adolpho Birch, the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Labor Policy and Legal Affairs. Brown will get paid the remainder of his $1.15 million salary while he is on the list. He cannot practice or play, but can appear at the team facility. The Giants signed veteran Robbie Gould to replace Brown as their place kicker.
This controversy was not left behind by the Giants as they arrived in England for Sunday’s game against the Rams.
The main reason why Brown was given a seemingly light one-game suspension by the league this summer — and why the Giants decided to stick with him — is the NFL’s insistence as recently as Thursday that it could not garner the required information about the May 2015 charge of domestic violence that was dismissed five days later. The league said law enforcement officials in the state of Washington refused to cooperate with the investigation into Brown’s domestic abuse history. Well, that reasoning is faulty, according to someone who would know.
“I don’t like to get pushed around by a bully,” Sheriff John Urquhart of the King County (Wash.) Sheriff’s Office said Thursday on KIRO radio in Seattle. “I don’t like the NFL taking shots at the Sheriff’s Office when it’s not deserved. … For them to say it’s our fault that they only gave them a one-day suspension, that’s just not true.’’
Urquhart pushed back at the NFL, saying the first contact he received following Brown’s arrest came from a “goofus” named Robert Agnew, using a generic Comcast email address — with no mention he was working for the NFL.
“We had no idea who this yokel is,’’ Urquhart said. “Nowhere on the request does he say that he works for the NFL … so we denied it.’’
The league, and the Giants, have been barraged by an onslaught of criticism for the handling of this unsavory affair. The Giants stuck with Brown after his arrest, even though his ex-wife, Molly, detailed more than 20 instances of abuse.
Not long after landing Friday morning and before Brown was put on the exempt list, Giants coach Ben McAdoo said: “We’re not going to turn our back on Josh. He’s a teammate and a guy who we’re hoping makes strides.”
An organizational decision was made Thursday night, promoted by shocking new revelations in documents written by Brown himself, that he would be left behind on this trip. McAdoo said he informed his players that Brown was being held back, but stopped far short of saying the kicker was done with the Giants.
“We’re going to work to get the best information we can,’’ McAdoo said. “The most accurate information we can to make the best information we can for the team.’’
In the documents, released Wednesday by the King County Sheriff’s Office, Brown admitted: “I have physically, mentally and emotionally been a repulsive man … I have abused my wife.’’ Based on this new information, the NFL reopened its investigation, which likely will lead to a longer suspension, without pay, for further violations of the league’s Personal Conduct Policy.
McAdoo in a preseason interview with The Post said he has “zero tolerance” for domestic violence. McAdoo on Friday said he did not recall making that remark.
“When did I say zero tolerance?’’ McAdoo asked.
Pressed to answer if he has a policy on this subject, McAdoo said: “I do not support domestic violence if that’s what you’re asking. I do not condone it.’’
Co-owner John Mara’s comments on WFAN on Thursday — saying Brown admitted to the team he abused his wife, but the Giants did not know the extent of the abuse — sparked more outrage. Annie Apple, an ESPN contributor and the mother of rookie cornerback Eli Apple, ripped into the Giants boss, writing on Twitter that, as a domestic violence survivor “these Mara comments make me sad, angry and completely baffled. He just doesn’t get it.’’