Palladino: Giants MUST Beat NFL To Action And Cut Disgraced Brown

By Ernie Palladino
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Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem, and half the nation thinks the 49ers should make him a gift to Vladimir Putin.

Odell Beckham, Jr. makes a fool of himself on a weekly basis now, having developed a loving relationship with an inanimate kicking net, and to many has become the Giants' biggest blemish.

Josh Brown? He served a one-game suspension for knocking his wife around, and everything was hunky-dory.

Maybe it's time the NFL did something to turn these scenarios around. Maybe it's time the Josh Browns of the league -- and there are no doubt several more out there -- get invited to the exit.

Maybe then, people will take the league's stance on domestic violence seriously.

The Giants can start the process. In light of Thursday's reports that describe 34 pages of journal entries, allegedly written by Brown and turned over by his now ex-wife Molly following his May, 2015 arrest for domestic abuse, the Giants should get this embarrassment over with. And just for emphasis, the "so-called classiest organization in football" should make their move before the league does.

They have already started the process by leaving him home from London, saying they'll revisit the situation once they return.

Let us make the decision for them.

Cut him. And do it as soon as that plane touches down back home.

MORE: Report: Veteran Kicker Gould Joins Giants In London

This is their chance to right a situation that was wrong from the very beginning. Brown never should have been re-signed in the first place in light of his arrest. But now, his written admission of guilt -- "I have abused my wife," read one line of a journal entry -- should be plenty to get him booted off the roster.

There is no longer any doubt about his guilt. It's right there, in print, with Brown marking himself as a chronic abuser just as clearly as the Ray Rice elevator tape condemned the former Ravens' running back as one.

The tape cost Rice his career.

Brown's journal should do no less, if only because that information was withheld from the league well after his arrest.

The NFL can't just throw him out, of course. But further punishment could be coming down the line.

The Giants can do what the league can't, however, at least on the local level.

They can send him away.

It'll cost them just under $680,000 under the salary cap to cut him, plus a bunch of legal fees for when Brown files his grievance. But so what? This is no time to let finances get in the way of doing the right thing.

Brown was out on the practice field Thursday before the Giants boarded the bus for their flight to merry old England. Once there, Beckham could have a chance to display for the Brits his own brand of whacko if his aching hip cooperates. Chances are they'll tolerate the celebrations, weird relationships, and unsportsmanlike conduct flags a lot better than us uptight Americans. Remember, even though the Giants and Rams will play this one at Twickenham Stadium, the home of English rugby, the British also let their stiff upper lips down over soccer.

Soccer, by the way, is a sport where its goal scorers fall just short of stripping off their skivvies in celebration.

Kissing a net? Yeah, that's probably the least of what's been done over there.

Regardless of Beckham's behavior, a player with far deeper flaws will sit home Sunday, awaiting the other shoe to drop.

For whatever patriotic fervor Kaepernick's silent, peaceful protest against racial injustice has sparked, a player whose actions know no political or social boundaries will remain the biggest smudge on the league's somewhat dubious morality as long as he remains on the roster.

For whatever the Giants' wide receiver and the 49ers' quarterback have done publicly, Brown has proven himself guilty by his own alleged hand of sins thousands of times more heinous.

The Giants knew about his arrest when they signed him to a two-year, $4 million contract in April. An NFL source told ESPN's Jane McManus that league officials did not know about the journals, e-mails, and documents that were released Wednesday.

The Giants said they didn't, either.

They do now. Everybody knows. Brown's own hand told that story.

It's time to fix it.

The league has reopened its case against Brown within the context of its personal conduct policy, obviously with an eye toward further punishment.

The question is whether the Giants will do the right thing even before the NFL makes its final determination.

They can cut him.

They need to cut Brown as soon as the homeward charter's wheels hit the runway.

And not a minute later.

Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino