HOW MANY IS IT GOING TO TAKE?
As allegations mount against Watson, NFL must take action, put QB on exempt list at minimum
Aquestion for the NFL: How many women accusers does it take before you act against Deshaun Watson?
Saying the allegations are “deeply disturbing” doesn’t count as action. Everyone is “deeply disturbed” by what we’re seeing. Those words have also become so watered down they don’t mean as much as they used to. I’m deeply disturbed when my wireless quits.
But back to the original question. Is there a specific number? Is it five women saying Watson behaved inappropriately? We passed that number long ago. Is it 10? Passed that, too. Fifteen? That’s very March. Twenty? Amazingly, we’ve left that number in the dust, as well.
We’re now at 22 women filing lawsuits against Watson, with some of them making various (but similar) accusations of sexual misconduct, including grabbing them, exposing himself, touching them with his genitals, ejaculating on them or forcing them to put their mouths on his genitals.
Even if you believe that half of them are lying, or their lawyer, Tony Buzbee, is a clown orchestrating it all, that still leaves a large number of women accusers. Are they all lying? Every single one of them?
The NFL has mostly been quiet as one of the ugliest stories in recent league history has unfolded before the country. That inaction must change. That inaction makes it seem like the NFL doesn’t care. While one of the only tools commissioner Roger Goodell could use, the exempt list, hasn’t been used in the offseason before, putting Watson on it would send the message the NFL has at least a modicum of interest in the issue.
Because right now, the league seems completely uninterested. It looks feckless, like it’s waiting for the whole thing to blow over, as if it’s a normal news event like a trade. Maybe if Watson overinflated a football, the league would take action.
In fact, Nike has taken sterner action than the league has. It’s a problem when a shoe company morally and ethically outflanks you.
The reasons the league should act are numerous, and every hurdle Watson’s defenders raise continues to be cleared. Watson has a sterling rep, his backers say. So did Bill Cosby. Hey, wait a minute, none of them has gone to the police. One just did. The lawyer is a carnival barker. That may be true, but if it’s all fake, it’s one of the greatest fakes in history, and Buzbee is doing it at his own peril. All of the women are anonymous. Not any longer. Two came forward this week.
Ashley Solis, the first woman to sue Watson, spoke to reporters Tuesday.
“Deshaun Watson assaulted and harassed me on March 30, 2020, in my own home, doing what I love most: massage therapy,” Solis said. “I replay the incident over and over in my head, as if I’m trying to wake up from some horrible nightmare. Only that nightmare is real.”
Even if you want to believe all of Buzbee’s clients are lying as part of a mass conspiracy, the woman interviewed by Sports Illustrated isn’t a client of his.
One of the biggest arguments against the NFL taking any action now is that you have to allow for due process or wait for criminal charges.
But the NFL hasn’t always cared about due process or criminal charges in the past. When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault, the NFL suspended him six games. There was an investigation by police, but Roethlisberger was never charged with a crime.
The letter Goodell wrote to Roethlisberger in 2010 was remarkable and could easily apply to Watson today.
“The Personal Conduct Policy makes clear that I may impose discipline ‘even where the conduct does not result in conviction of a crime’ as, for example, where the conduct ‘imposes inherent danger to the safety and well being of another person,’ ” Goodell wrote.
This isn’t to say that Watson should be suspended. It’s that Goodell is on the record saying convictions aren’t the only metrics, and what matters is if conduct “undermines or puts at risk the integrity and reputation of the NFL.”
We also know that the NFL loves to talk about how much it cares about women when it suits them. The league has women’s summits, where it brags about all of the progress women are making in the sport.
It’s good the NFL is empowering women.
But there isn’t a better message to show women they matter than acting against Watson.
So, we are back to that question, NFL: How many women does it take?