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Releasing Jenkins was Giants’ only recourse

The Giants finally did something right for the first time since they won the Super Bowl few years ago that seemed like 20 years ago these days.

They released cornerback Janoris Jenkins on Friday after he called a Giants fan a “retard” on Twitter this week and then apologized without really apologizing by saying in the hood, calling someone a retard is okay.

It’s about time they did the right thing for once instead of enabling this behavior. They sent a message that disrespecting the fans will not be tolerated. There’s also no place to call anyone a retard in the 21st century.

Maybe this sends a message to other Giants players about accountability when it comes to performance and conduct. It’s been a long time since that existed. That’s the beauty of this news. No doubt this serves as a highlight of what has been a forgettable Giants season.

Good for the Giants for doing the right thing by making him an example.

Yes, Jenkins expressed his right for free speech, but he should also know he represents the brand, which is the New York Football Giants. The Giants used to pride themselves as a classy organization until guys like Jenkins, Landon Collins, Damon Harrison and Odell Beckham Jr. showed up. They lost their way since. There’s no place for any team employee to attack the fan whatsoever, and Jenkins should know this because it’s a no-win situation.

It wasn’t the word per se that got him fired. It was attacking the fans. There’s no place for it, and Giants fans endured horrible seasons lately for them to be attacked by an underachieving player.

Obviously, he reacted to criticism out of frustration. He has that right, but he should know better than to go after the fans. He probably should close down notifications on Twitter if criticism came his way or he shouldn’t be tweeting.

Jenkins’ behavior turned out to be a public-relations disaster for him and the Giants. Losing and stupidity represent the public relations hit the Giants took in the last four seasons.

The Giants shouldn’t compromise themselves by enabling bad behavior just because Jenkins has been a favorite in the locker room. This is a franchise that needs to dump losers that play for this organization. The Giants never won with Jenkins, and he underachieved as a cornerback by giving up big plays time after time. Think Eli Apple.

They can do better than Jenkins. He would have been gone anyway this offseason just so the Giants can save $11.25 million against their 2020 salary cap. It’s a good business move for the Giants that they got it over with.

Jenkins knew it, too, so that’s why he snapped at a fan. He basically made the Giants’ job easy for him.

It says more about him than the Giants that he expressed his happiness on Twitter that the Giants released him. Once again, no accountability by him. It’s been a symptom of the disease the Giants suffered for the last few years in the name of losing. It got old, and that’s another reason why the Giants did the right thing in letting him go.

Jenkins came off as a front-runner. When things were good, Jenkins was such a team-player such as his first season in 2016 when the Giants made the playoffs. When things went awry, he became a malcontent. His true colors showed in 2017 and now. The Giants knew he was such a fraud that they had plans to get rid of him after this season is over.

The Giants did all they could to make this work for Jenkins. They enabled his behavior knowing as long as he showed up to play on Sundays, they can tolerate his nonsense. His awful performance this season turned out to be the Giants’ breaking point more than his behavior on Twitter. At some point, the Giants had no choice but to give up on him since he wasn’t worth the trouble.

Jenkins made it easy for the Giants by picking a fight that he couldn’t win, which is going after a fan and doubling-down on what he did by defending himself for calling a Giants fan a “retard”. Deep down, the Giants were happy that he did what he did.

It’s hard to believe this was Pat Shurmur’s decision or Dave Gettleman’s decision. This came from ownership.

It’s good to know someone actually cares what’s going on in Giantsland to release Jenkins.

No doubt releasing Jenkins set the domino effect of what’s to come after this season is mercifully over.

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