Most of the NFL’s Jeffrey Epstein-related conversation has focused on former Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who has transferred his shares into a trust for his children but who continues to serve as chairman of the team’s board of directors.
There’s another connection, as explained by Adam Kilgore of The Athletic.
Brad Karp stepped down as chairman of the Paul Weiss law firm after emails showed his ties to Epstein. However, he continues to be a senior partner at the fiim. He also continues to work for the NFL.
“It’s one of those things that’s lawful, but awful,” U.S. Representative Wesley Bell (D-MO) told Kilgore. “The NFL, considering the place they hold in our society — much less with kids — I think should be very sensitive to the people they associate with. Very questionable, I think.”
In his article, Kilgore outlines the various connections between Karp and Epstein. One specific exchange discussed surveillance methods regarding a woman who was later reportedly identified as the mistress of Leon Black, co-founder of private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. At one point, Epstein suggested that Karp’s staff determine the woman’s visa status, and that they should attempt to revoke it.
“Both good ideas; will work on this,” Karp said in response.
Said Paul Weiss after the emails came to light: “Mr. Karp attended two group dinners in New York City and had a small number of social interactions by email, all of which he regrets.”
“Organizations like the NFL that hold the type of place in our society that impacts and influences all parts of our society do have a higher responsibility,” Bell told Kilgore. “There are a lot of attorneys. They got a lot of options of folks they can use that don’t have ties to one of the largest sex trafficking operations in the world potentially. The NFL needs to re-assess, re-evaluate and really be sensitive to who they’re associating themselves with, because the world is watching.”
The world is indeed watching, even if there hasn’t been much action. Especially by the NFL, as it relates to Tisch or to Karp.
Giants Clips
Cam Skattebo insists he will be “ready to go” Week 1 as he continues his rehab from a gruesome leg injury. That is good news for the Giants as the running back had 125 carries for 617 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie.
Skattebo has much bigger goals for his second season.
“I do not consider that successful for me,” Skattebo said of his rookie season, via Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. “I had 400 yards on 100 carries. When I play 17-plus games this year, it’s going to be 300 carries for over 2,000 yards.”
Nine running backs have had a 2,000-yard season, the most recent coming by Saquon Barkley in 2024. Eric Dickerson owns the NFL record with his 2,105 rushing yards in 1984.
Tiki Barber holds the Giants team record with 1,860 rushing yards in 2005.
The Giants will have a joint practice with the Dolphins before the teams play in Week 2 of the preseason on Aug. 22.
Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley revealed that news earlier this week.
That, though, is the Giants’ only joint practice this year.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that the Giants will not hold their annual joint practice with the Jets.
The Giants and Jets play their annual preseason game in Week 3 of the exhibition season.
The Giants will spend the first two weeks of training camp at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The Giants hope that the hiring of John Harbaugh as their head coach ushers in a new era of success for the team and Harbaugh’s first season on the job will include a celebration of the franchise’s first Super Bowl win.
The Giants announced that they will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Super Bowl XXI champions during their Week 4 home game against the Cardinals. They went 14-2 during the 1986 season and then beat San Francisco and Washington in the playoffs by a combined score of 66-3 to advance to the Super Bowl. They beat the Broncos 39-20 at the Rose Bowl to secure the Lombardi Trophy.
“This anniversary is about honoring a team that defined Giants football and delivered one of the most dominant championship runs in NFL history,” Giants owner John Mara said in a statement. “We look forward to celebrating these legends while giving our fans unique opportunities to relive and connect with that unforgettable season.”
Former Giants players will be on hand at the game and the first 25,000 fans to enter MetLife Stadium will receive Mark Bavaro bobbleheads. There will also be a halftime ceremony commemorating the team, which featured head coach Bill Parcells, quarterback Phil Simms, linebacker Lawrence Taylor and many others.
On Monday night, the Giants held their annual Town Hall event. For the first time arguably since the days of Bill Parcells, the team has a good head coach who is also a clear and direct (and at times blunt) communicator.
Art Stapleton of USA Today has posted a snippet from the event that will be music to the ears of Giants fans.
Here’s the question to John Harbaugh, from one of the folks in the crowd: “We turn on the TV on Sundays, and then we face the Eagles and the Cowboys, and a lot of the time they just kick our butts. How confident are you, Coach, that going into this season we’ll go into those Dallas games, those Eagles games, and those Commanders games, and we’ll take them down?”
“I could care less about what’s happened last year, the year before that, or ten years before that,” Harbaugh said. “Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it. Not one bit. All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.”
And with that, the room exploded in cheers.
“That’s our job,” Harbaugh added. “That’s our job to be good enough to do that. We gotta make ourselves good enough to do that. That’s our responsibility.”
And the countdown to Week 1 continues. With the Cowboys coming to town to face the Giants in Harbaugh’s first game of his first year in New York.
While the proof will be in the proverbial pudding, Harbaugh has the fans more excited than they’ve been in a long time.
The Giants held a town hall event for fans in New York City on Monday night and it included an update on running back Cam Skattebo’s condition.
Skattebo’s play was one of the few highlights of the 2025 season, but the good feelings he generated during his rookie year were put on hold when he suffered severe leg and ankle injuries in October. Skattebo said on Monday that he is still working his way back to full strength and that he expects to be there in time to face the Cowboys on the first Sunday night of the regular season.
“Obviously there’s ups and downs in the injury process and coming back and rehabbing, but the mental battle has been the hardest part: making sure that I trust it fully,” Skattebo said, via Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. “I’m a little ways out. Not too far, but I’ll be ready to go. Week 1, I’ll be ready to go.”
The Giants are also waiting on wide receiver Malik Nabers to return from a torn ACL and getting both players back to their top form would be an excellent way to set John Harbaugh up for success in his first year on the sideline in New Jersey.
John Harbaugh gave the commencement speech at his alma mater over the weekend, and he used his own recent firing to illustrate a point about resilience.
Harbaugh, who was fired by the Ravens and hired by the Giants this year, spoke at Miami University of Ohio, where he played football in the 1980s.
“There’s going to be tough times. They’re going to show up, too. You might get a call with some bad news. Maybe about your job. Maybe they’ll tell you they don’t want you anymore. Time to move on,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN. “It happens. In those moments, I hope you’ll find resilience. And you’ll be able to rejoice in all the good you’ll still have. And all the people who still care for you. That you’ll come to understand that there is a great opportunity on the next horizon of your life. And you can still walk together into every uncertain future with the people you love.”
Harbaugh told graduates he wants them to know about the “amazing power of caring and encouragement” and how they can affect the lives of the people around them by pointing out what’s special about them.
When Eli Manning refused to play for the Chargers after they drafted him first overall in 2004, it was widely believed that his father, former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, was behind the decision. Eli says that isn’t true.
Eli Manning appeared on Bussin’ With The Boys and said that while he and agent Tom Condon were on the same page that San Diego was the wrong place for him, his parents actually didn’t agree.
“My parents really weren’t supportive. My dad didn’t like the idea,” Manning said. “Now, he came to my defense and like supported me after everything was going down, but . . . he didn’t like that. And afterwards he took the brunt of a lot of the criticism because he came to my defense and people were saying, ‘Oh, you played in New Orleans all those years you didn’t win, so you’re trying to dictate like where your son’s going.’ And and he just bit his tongue and said, ‘Hey, this is what Eli wants to do and I support him’ and he did some media to try to save me from doing all the media and taking the hits.”
Manning said he respected then-Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer but could tell there was friction between Schottenheimer, the front office, and ownership, and didn’t think the Chargers were heading in the right direction.
“San Diego had the first pick, I didn’t really want to go there,” Manning said. “I just didn’t feel like they were the most committed team to winning at the time,”
When the possibility of a trade came up, Condon told Manning the Chargers were going to trade him to the Browns, and he didn’t want to go there, either. Fortunately for Manning, ultimately the Giants and Chargers made a deal, and Manning won two Super Bowl MVPs in New York.
Former NFL defensive end Josh Mauro died last month at 35. Via the California Post, authorities have determined that Mauro’s death occurred as a result of an accidental drug overdose.
Officially, the cause of death was “acute combined fentanyl, cocaine, and ethanol intoxication.”
Mauro, who played college football at Stanford from 2010 through 2013, went undrafted in 2014. After four years with the Cardinals, Mauro spent one with the Giants and one with the Raiders. He returned to Arizona for the final two season of his career, in 2020 and 2021.
He appeared in 80 career regular-season games, with 40 starts.
When 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan aired grievances at the annual NFL meetings in March about his team getting the short straw for a long trip to Australia to face the Rams — at (as Shanahan insists) the specific request of the Rams — Shanahan held out hope for a nugget of consideration when the 49ers return to the United States.
Shanahan wanted his team’s Week 2 game to happen on Monday night.
That isn’t happening for the 49ers. Instead, the Rams will get the extra day to adjust and recover after playing in Australia. They host the Giants on Monday night, September 21.
Only one of the two Australia teams could have gotten the extra day. Still, some will wonder whether Shanahan’s public gripes prompted a little twist of the knife by the league office. At times, the powers-that-be can have a very long memory — and they sometimes don’t react well to public complaints.
To his credit, Shanahan wasn’t bashful about speaking his truth. And if he thinks the decision to give the Rams and not the 49ers the extra day to get ready for Week 2 traces to his willingness to say when he thinks, Shanahan should say that, too.
