Being mixed up a mess for accused Texans
Deshaun Watson is responsible for his own actions. Deshaun Watson is responsible for his own actions. Deshaun Watson is responsible for his own actions.
Now, that being said, said again and resaid, the Texans being pulled deeper into their former star quarterback’s legal troubles is not a surprise.
A lawsuit filed Monday claims the Texans knew or should have known about Watson’s conduct and instead of doing anything meaningful to thwart Watson, the team enabled him.
Watson was sued by 24 women for sexual misconduct during massages. Twenty of those suits were settled out of court last week. Watson, whom the Texans traded to Cleveland earlier this year, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
The Texans’ response to the lawsuit against the organization was a statement that they are indeed aware that it exists.
Do keep in mind that most of what we are reacting to are just accusations.
Worse, they are claims made in a civil lawsuit. That doesn’t make them false but absolutely doesn’t make them true.
It is pretty hard to keep from being sued these days.
It is also almost impossible for a corporate entity to take any action that will not be criticized on the internet via social media.
Do something, you’re wrong for the action. Don’t do anything, you’re wrong for the inaction.
Still, the Texans front office’s knowledge and/or involvement in behavior that will surely lead to an NFL suspension for Watson and could
have resulted in his facing criminal charges is a legitimate issue.
With so many women making claims against Watson, it’s a natural fit for the Watergate-inspired “what did they know and when did they know it?”
This is different from the Washington Commanders’ situation, which based on what we know, was a place that fostered a hostile work environment for women. The Texans are accused of turning a “blind eye” to assaults committed by an employee.
We’re not about to conduct a trial here — and legal experts have assured me there won’t be one — so we won’t dive too deep, considering much of the information we’re dealing with are not necessarily facts.
But rumors that Texans players besides Watson were having or attempting to have sex with massage therapists have been out there since the very first lawsuit.
Whether the Texans knew this, and what they did or didn’t do in response, are going to be key factors in this money matter.
Perhaps the organization chose not to do much so that it could maintain plausible deniability were something to go wrong. Problem is, there has been testimony that it did something in the Watson case.
That Jack Easterby, the Texans’ executive vice president of football operations, and head trainer Roland Ramirez secured a membership at The Houstonian, where Watson could presumably book rooms for massages, does not mean they knew anything illegal or inappropriate would occur.
According to the lawsuit, Ramirez even told police during its investigation that he signed on as a third party to the membership because Watson wasn’t old enough to get one on his own.
Watson said in depositions for the civil lawsuits that Brent Naccara, the Texans’ head of security, passed along a nondisclosure agreement for Watson’s use after a threat of exposure from one massage was posted on social media by a masseuse.
Naccara told police he had the accuser delete the post.
The head of football operations, the head of security, the head trainer.
Perhaps this isn’t a conspiracy to facilitate or cover up poor behavior and potentially criminal activity, but it is a mess.
A Texans’ mess.
And, of course, the team is only responsible for its actions.