Giants kicker Josh Brown will not play this weekend as NFL and Giants announce they will re-open investigation

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The NFL said in a statement on Thursday that it has re-opened its investigation into New York Giants kicker Josh Brown after new evidence emerged in the investigation into domestic violence allegations.

A short while later, the New York Giants announced that Brown will not travel this weekend to London and will not play in this week’s game against the Rams.

The Giants added that they will “review the newly disclosed information” and will “revisit this issue” when they return from London.

Brown was suspended for one game earlier this season following his arrest in May 2015 on charges of fourth-degree domestic violence. On Wednesday, the Kings Count Sheriff’s Department released 165 pages of documents relating to the arrest, which, according to SportsNet New York, included a journal entry in which Brown admitted to physically and emotionally abusing his wife.

“I have physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally been a repulsive man,” SNY said Brown wrotein one of his journal entries. Below that, it said, citing the documents, he circled the sentence, “I have abused my wife.”

On Thursday, the NFL said that league investigators made several attempts to access the evidence around the time of Brown’s arrest, but that the Kings County Sheriff’s Department failed to comply.

Here’s the full statement:

NFL investigators made repeated attempts—both orally and in writing—to obtain any and all evidence and relevant information in this case from the King County Sheriff’s Office. Each of those requests was denied and the Sheriff’s Office declined to provide any of the requested information, which ultimately limited our ability to fully investigate this matter. We concluded our own investigation, more than a year after the initial incident, based on the facts and evidence available to us at the time and after making exhaustive attempts to obtain information in a timely fashion. It is unfortunate that we did not have the benefit or knowledge of these materials at the time.

In light of the release of these documents yesterday, we will thoroughly review the additional information and determine next steps in the context of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy. We will not be making any comments on potential discipline until that time.

Earlier, the Giants said that they had been unaware of the additional evidence:

In their later statement, the Giants said they remain supportive of Brown.

“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.”

In many ways, the trajectory here mimics that of Ray Rice. The league initially gave Rice a lax suspension and the Ravens stood by him. When the video tape from the Atlantic City casino elevator surfaced, the league re-opened the investigation and eventually suspended him indefinitely. Although he has since been reinstated to the league, no team has signed him.

Brown, as of Thursday afternoon, remains on the Giants roster. It’s hard to imagine that will be the case for much longer.