New York Giants' John Mara defends giving K Josh Brown extension

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- After almost a week of silence following the emergence of additional disturbing allegations of domestic violence against Josh Brown, New York Giants co-owner John Mara emerged with a statement of support for his team's veteran kicker.

Mara said that organization was "comfortable" with re-signing the then-free agent.

Brown, who received a one-game suspension by the NFL for a May 2015 incident in which he was arrested for allegedly grabbing the wrist of his now ex-wife in a heated dispute at a home the couple shared in Woodinville, Wash.

Brown told reporters last week that the charges against him were dropped by the King County district attorney five days following his arrest.

Since the news of his suspension became public, however, more details have emerged that have painted a rather unsettling picture and history of domestic violence between Brown and his ex-wife. In fact, his ex-wife detailed in a police report that Brown was physically aggressive toward her on 20 different occasions.

Mara said that the team knew about Brown's incident which resulted in the arrest after conducting its own due diligence.

"When we made the decision to re-sign Josh back in 2015, we were certainly aware of the arrest and the allegations of that arrest," Mara said. "Based on the facts and circumstances we were aware of at that time, we were comfortable with re-signing him."

Despite the new information uncovered by the New York Daily News, information that has included two calls made by Molly Brown to 911, Mara said that nothing has changed.

"Nothing has happened in the mean time to make us question that decision," Mara added. "A lot of times there's a tendency to make these cases black and white; they're very rarely black and white. You very rarely have a Ray Rice video. There are allegations made, you try to sort through the facts and that's what we tried to do here."

Mara, who stressed that the organization takes domestic violence and sexual abuse very seriously, said that there is a "big difference between allegations and convictions or indictments" which can cloud the issue.

"It's very difficult to sort through all that and make informed decisions," he said. "We attempted to make an informed decision here and we'll live with the results of that decision as we move forward. We've made our decision and we're comfortable with it."

That doesn't mean it's been an easy decision to make for Mara, the father of four daughters, brother of seven sisters and employer of several dozen women.

"I think this is an organization that always tries to do the right thing. I don't know that we always get it done, but we try. We did our homework here, we got as many of the facts and circumstances as we could in front of us as we could and we made a decision," he said.

"It's very easy to say, 'The guy's been accused, get rid of him.' But when you're sitting at the top of an organizational and you're responsible for a lot of people, you better make more informed decisions than that."

Mara revealed that Brown has been undergoing counselling and that he is confident that Brown will continue to work toward meet the team's expectations regarding his conduct.

"He's been very diligent about that. He's been a good citizen since he's been here," Mara said. "He's had conversations with a number of us in management including myself and I'm confident that he's going to conduct himself in a way that's expected of him."

As for whether this means Brown is a lock to be the team's kicker after his suspension is up, Mara said that the decision will come down to whether Brown or newly signed Randy Bullock performs better.

"That's going to be a football decision," Mara said. "There will be a competition and that will be up to the coach."