Woody Johnson avoids answering questions involving Quincy Enunwa's domestic violence case
Woody Johnson watches Jets players warm up prior to a game against the Miami Dolphins. (Sept. 23, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
Jets owner Woody Johnson danced around the topic of domestic violence Thursday.
During a near 20-minute interview with reporters, which touched on myriad topics including the team's $21 million in unused salary-cap space and Rex Ryan and Geno Smith's respective futures with the franchise, Johnson was asked about rookie Quincy Enunwa, who has a domestic violence charge pending.
Enunwa, a sixth-round draft pick who was signed to the practice squad after initially making the 53-man active roster, was arrested Aug. 31 for causing "bodily injury" to a woman at a New Jersey hotel. He missed a portion of Wednesday's practice because of a court appearance, but according to NJ.com, the court hearing was postponed until Oct. 15.
Asked what the team will do if Enunwa is found guilty or pleads no contest in the case, Johnson replied: "I'm not going to comment on it. It's undergoing. It's an undergoing investigation."
Would the Jets keep a player who's been found guilty of domestic violence?
"That depends," Johnson said. "That's something we're looking at."
"I don't know yet," he said when pressed further. "We're looking at that. The league is looking at it and we're looking at it, too. I think that's one of the things that [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell] talked about in his press conference and he's talked about it on multiple occasions."
Johnson also refused to give his broad philosophy on domestic violence.
"Yeah, I can't really comment on that," he said. "There's no way to comment on something like that because there's all kinds of stakeholders and there's all kinds of levels . . . This is a societal question. The NFL is a player, but not the most dominant player. We're trying to do our job, and it's something we have to deal with and we will deal with it. And we'll hopefully deal with this as intelligently and as sensitively as we possibly can."
Johnson was also questioned about former Jets linebacker Bryan Thomas, who was charged with aggravated assault in October 2012 after he allegedly pushed his wife with a kitchen chair, punched her in the stomach and grabbed her by the neck.
"Was that before the season? I don't even remember," Johnson said. "Listen, we've all done things that maybe we handled it wrong, maybe we handled it right, but going forward, I hope we do a better job of handling these things correctly."
