Giants owner John Mara appeared on WFAN on Thursday afternoon to discuss the team's decision not to bring kicker Josh Brown to London, following the release of additional documents regarding Brown's May 2015 domestic violence arrest in which he admits to physically, verbally and emotionally abusing his then-wife.
"I can't answer now what the future holds. We need to gather more information and make a decision when we can," Mara said.
He added that the team was "obviously disturbed" by all the information that has come out on Brown.
Mara said the Giants were comfortable with their initial decision to abide by the one-game suspension levied by the NFL following a 10-month investigation this past year.
"However, given what has happened over the last day or two and what we've been able to review, we feel the best course of action for Josh and for our football team is to make him inactive this week," Mara said. "As I said, we haven't made a decision yet on his future, but I think the NFL will also have something to say about that."
Mara added: "One of the possibilities is he ends up on the Commissioner's Exempt List. But I'm not speculating right now, and I really shouldn't do that. I want to gather more information. This has all come down really in the last 24 hours, we're getting ready to leave for London, so it's been a difficult process for us. But based on the information that we did have, making Josh inactive was the best thing to do"
A source informed of the situation told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport that the NFL is indeed considering to place Brown on the Commissioner's Exempt List.
Mara mentioned that the large majority of the new evidence comes from "journal entries that he made were part of his therapy to try to rehabilitate himself. What he wrote down was brutally honest but nonetheless very disturbing".
Mara said he did not feel "hoodwinked" by Brown, who self-reported his issues to the club over the summer.
The kicker, who the Giants re-signed to a two-year deal in April, practiced with the team on Thursday but will not travel to London.
"In light of the news reports regarding the documents released by the State of Washington yesterday, we think it makes sense to review this newly disclosed information and to revisit this issue following our trip to London," the team said in a statement.
"The Giants do not condone or excuse any form of domestic violence. Josh has acknowledged that he has issues in his life and has been working on these issues through therapy and counseling for a long period of time. We remain supportive of Josh and his efforts."
With Brown out of the lineup, the Giants agreed to a deal with kicker Robbie Gould on Thursday and the former Bears kicker accompanied the team on it's flight to London, a source informed of the situation told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. Giants coach Ben McAdoo confirmed Friday that Gould is set to join the team.
"From what I've learned over the last few years is that you don't necessarily have all the information and not everyone cooperates," Mara said Thursday, noting that the Giants were not able to obtain the recently released documents until the media did this week. "You have to make decisions based on the information you have in front of you. ... However, given what has happened over the last day or two, with what we've been able to review, we feel the best course for Josh and for our football team is to make him inactive this week.
"As I say, we haven't made a decision yet on his future. But I think the NFL will have something to say about that."
