New York Giants owner John Mara on Wednesday defended the team's decision to re-sign Josh Brown, saying his club was "comfortable" with the facts in the 2015 domestic violence allegations against the kicker.
"All I can tell you is that we're aware of all the allegations, and I believe all the facts and circumstances, and we were comfortable with our decision to re-sign him," Mara said Wednesday.
Mara's comments were his first on the allegations against Brown, as he declined to answer questions from reporters over the weekend in Buffalo, where the Giants played a preseason game against the Bills. Giants general manager Jerry Reese also declined to answer questions about Brown.
Mara said domestic violence is not a "black or white" issue.
"You very rarely have a Ray Rice video," he said.
Mara noted that "the charges were dropped within a couple days" after Brown's arrest in 2015 following an incident with his now ex-wife.
"Nothing has happened in the meantime to make us question that decision," Mara said.
The Giants owner said domestic violence is "an issue ... that we take very seriously here."
"Everybody in this building, players and employees alike, go through a training program on issues like domestic violence and sexual abuse and DUI," he said.
"We have worked very closely for many, many years, long before this became a hot-button topic, with an organization called My Sisters' Place, and this is an issue that is very personal to a lot of us."
Last week, Brown, 37, was suspended one game for violating the league's conduct policy. The ban stems from the domestic violence case in May 2015.
Mara and the Giants also denied there was a blackmail incident. Molly Brown alleged that the Giants "basically did what they needed to do to make the guy go away" when the Browns were involved in a dispute with their Hoboken, New Jersey, landlord.
"That is ridiculous," Mara said when asked about the blackmail claim. "That is completely ridiculous."
The Giants later clarified that Mara did not understand the question. They said there was no blackmail incident, but they did refer Josh Brown to a lawyer to handle the Hoboken matter.
The Giants signed kicker Randy Bullock earlier this week, in the wake of Brown's suspension. Bullock said he was told he was signed to compete with Brown.
Molly Brown, Josh Brown's ex-wife, told police that he had been physically violent with her on more than 20 instances over the past several years, but the NFL said last Friday it arrived at a one-game suspension for him in part because the league was unable to gather information from Molly Brown and law enforcement officers during its investigation.
Last week, Josh Brown said he informed the Giants of the 2015 charge on the day of the incident, and a team spokesman confirmed they knew of that incident.
The NFL's domestic violence policy establishes a six-game baseline for first offenses but allows for aggravating circumstances that can make the suspension longer or mitigating circumstances that can make it shorter.
The Giants re-signed Brown this offseason to a two-year, $4 million deal.
Mara said it would have been an easy decision not to re-sign Brown, but "I'm trying to be fair to him as well. I think he's trying to do the right thing. He deserves an opportunity to show that he can do that."
ESPN's Jordan Raanan and Josina Anderson contributed to this report.