Roger Goodell Comments on Josh Brown, NFL's Handling of Domestic Violence

The New York Giants announced they released kicker Josh Brown on Tuesday in light of information about past abuse toward his wife, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell offered his first public comments on the situation Wednesday.

Goodell spoke about Brown and the way the league handles domestic violence with the New York Daily News' Gary Myers on WFAN Radio's Chalk Talk, and Christian Red of the Daily News relayed the comments Thursday:

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What you see here is a policy that's evolved. We've learned a lot, but these are complex matters. When you talk to the domestic violence experts, these are difficult matters to deal with. You have rights, you have families that you have to be concerned with, privacy issues. Yes, you want to make sure you're doing everything possible to address these (alleged incidents) when they happen, but you also want to deal with them to prevent them from happening.

I think we've made tremendous progress. Can we make more and will we make more? Of course.

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Red stressed that Goodell didn't offer any notable apologies for the way the league handled the Brown case and instead focused on the progress it has made after several high-profile domestic violence cases.

While Brown was never charged after he was arrested in May 2015, Red noted public documents revealed his wife told authorities he was violent with her 20 different times. The NFL suspended him just one game despite a six-game baseline that was implemented in 2014 for those found to have committed domestic violence.

According to Red, Goodell said he and the league did not receive much information from police when investigating Brown. The commissioner also pointed out the one-game suspension was for the isolated incident in May 2015 and said "the decision was made by our team after we had the evidence to be able to support the one game."

The Giants signed Brown to a two-year contract worth $4 million in April, but team president John Mara released a statement Tuesday in which he accepted responsibility for he and his team's "misguided" decisions, per Tom Pelissero of USA Today:

The NFL continues to be under scrutiny for the way it handles domestic violence issues, especially after some of the high-profile cases Red mentioned.

Goodell was widely criticized for initially handing then-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice a two-game suspension after a domestic violence incident, and Greg Hardy's 10-game suspension for the 2015 season was reduced to four games.

As for Brown, the fact he received a one-game suspension before eventually being released drew ire; in comparison, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games and taken to court for his alleged role in the Deflategate controversy.

Red noted the NFL has reopened its investigation of Brown after additional documents were released last week.