In 2014, the NFL made headlines after Ray Rice a two game suspension for a domestic violence incident where he knocked out his wife in an elevator, which was hardly just for what he had done. The security footage from the incident eventually made its way into the hands of TMZ, who released it to the public, and the NFL was facing a public relations nightmare because of how light of a suspension Rice received for his actions. As a result of this public reaction, the NFL instituted a new policy that stated any player tied to a domestic violence incident of any kind would result in a minimum six game suspension, with more games being added if the NFL believed the incident warranted it. The NFL also began a domestic violence ad campaign raising awareness to repair their image when it came to domestic violence.The NFL took these steps to show that they had learned from the mistakes of how they handled the Ray Rice case. Unfortunately, the NFL clearly didn’t learn from this this past offseason with New York Giants Kicker Josh Brown.
During the 2016 offseason, the NFL suspended Josh Brown for 1 game, but the reason wasn’t initially known by NFL insiders. Later insiders found out that Brown was suspended for a domestic violence incident that occured in 2015. Despite Head Coach Ben McAdoo saying that there was little place for domestic violence in the NFL when he got the head coaching job and the Giants organization saying that they would not support someone who has been involved in a domestic violence incident, the Giants organization kept Brown on their roster. The NFL said that they declined to give Brown the full six game suspension because there weren’t any charges filed by the District Attorney’s Office and the victim, Brown’s now ex-wife, refused to talk to the NFL.
Well this spawned a couple of questions for me. The first one is if a lack of cooperation by the victim or a lack of charges were mitigating factors, then why did Ray Rice initially get two games, then an indefinite suspension when Rice’s fiancée refused to press charges? Why was Greg Hardy given ten games when the victim refused to testify to the incident in court or to the NFL? In both instances, there was clear evidence that the assault took place, which is also the case with this incident. The second is what makes you think that the assault didn’t take place? There was clearly enough evidence for the police, which hold a higher standard of probable cause than the NFL’s more probable than not, to feel as though they needed to arrest Josh Brown. In addition, everyone in the media seemed to know that there was a history of violence. The media reported that this was one of almost two dozen incidents that took place with Brown. So, if the NFL didn’t know that, that leads me to think one of two things. Either the NFL never took this incident seriously, which would be sickening, or the media can do a better job investigating an incident involving one of your players than you can, which would be quite disappointing. I wish that this was where the end of the whole saga this offseason ended, but unfortunately it wasn’t.
This past week, the emails and journal entries that Josh Brown made that were evidence in the criminal case were made available to the public and they have made everyone even sicker. In these writings, Brown not only admits to the incident that took place back in 2015, but other incidents that had taken place. If you were hoping that was the end of what was in those documents, you were in for an even larger surprise. In some of the journal entries that Brown wrote, Brown describes misogynistic and sadistic comments about what he wishes he could do to another human being and that he views himself as a god (I purposely left the g in god under-case unlike Brown because I refuse to even accept the comparison that he is making). The NFL said that they were rebuked in their multiple instances to secure this information when first investigating the case. However, if the NFL truly did their due diligence, then they would have filled a claim under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to these documents that would be important to their case. These thoughts are cowardice for any person to make and these comments are disturbing for any person to say, let alone someone who has the support of an organization like the Giants, who have shown they have little room for antics, and the shield of the NFL. These comments clearly show that Josh Brown needs help and doesn’t belong in the NFL.
Thankfully, the Giants opted to leave Josh Brown behind on their trip to London for this week game against the Rams, but it is too little, too late. Josh Brown should have been out of the NFL before this season even started like Ray Rice and Greg Hardy now are. The comments made by Brown show someone that needs help and it is irresponsible for an organization to allow him to be out there on the field with this kind of mindset about another human being. The NFL and the New York Giants mismanaged this whole situation from the very beginning and it doesn’t show that they have truly made that step forward to support the victims of domestic violence despite what they want the public to believe. This won’t go to help a league that is already having a ratings problem this season, but it never should have gotten to this point if the NFL did their due diligence with handling this case.
