Will Watson’s suspension hold up?
Browns QB receives six games for violating personal conduct policy
The NFL punishment wheel of fortune this time landed on six — a six-game suspension for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, the serial massage-arranger. At least for now. On Monday morning according to multiple reports, Judge Sue L. Robinson informed both the league and the NFL Players Association (representing Watson) that she has decided a six-game suspension without pay is apropos for Watson’s violations of the NFL’S personal conduct policy.
Robinson, a retired U.S. district court judge in Delaware, was jointly appointed as disciplinary offer on this matter by both the league and players union.
Robinson wrote in her decision, per NFL Network, that Watson’s “pattern of behaviour was egregious,” but his behaviour was “non-violent sexual conduct.”
Early last year some two dozen athletic massage therapists filed civil suits in Houston, alleging sexual harassment — and in some cases sexual assault — on Watson’s part, during private sessions he arranged on his own.
No criminal charges have been, or are expected to be, filed against the sixth-year pro quarterback, after two Houston grand juries that weighed police evidence both declined to recommend indictments.
All but one of Watson’s eventual 24 sexual-misconduct accusers who’d been suing him for civil damages have settled, as have all 30 of the women who sued Watson’s former team, the Houston Texans, as being culpable in his alleged disturbing sexual misconduct.
The New York Times reported in June that Watson had arranged private massages away from club facilities with at least 66 different women over a 17-month period from 2020-21 and that the Texans provided him with non-disclosure agreements to give to each therapist.
Watson’s camp has argued that any sexual activities that might have occurred between the passer and any therapist were wholly consensual.
Reports Monday morning said that as part of Robinson’s ruling, Watson is forbidden from arranging massages outside of an NFL club setting.
“I never assaulted anyone. I never disrespected anyone,” Watson told reporters in June. “I never forced anyone to do anything.”
The league reportedly has been seeking a full-season suspension. The NFLPA has countered that Watson deserves no suspension whatsoever.
Both the league and the players union have three days to file an appeal of Robinson’s determination, per new rules of the player disciplinary process agreed to by both sides in the 2020 collective bargaining agreement. This is the first time the league itself has not issued an initial player punishment.
The players union announced ahead of time, on Sunday night, a half-day before Robinson’s ruling leaked Monday, that it would not appeal her punishment.
The NFL did not immediately indicate whether it would appeal. If it does, and ditto if the NFLPA had decided to do so, then NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, or his personally chosen designee, would hear the appeal and make a final, binding ruling.
If the NFL chooses the appeal route, to stiffen Watson’s punishment, then it is speculated the NFLPA might then take the league to court — as it did, ultimately unsuccessfully, in both 2016 when Tom Brady was suspended for four games in the trumpedup Deflategate fiasco, and in 2017 when Ezekiel Elliott was suspended for six games for his alleged role in domestic violence incidents. Any U.S. appeals court would overturn an NFL suspension only if it found procedural defects, not on the merits of the case.
In late June and early July, Robinson had heard arguments and read briefs submitted by both sides.
Perhaps crucially, Robinson could consider only the allegations and evidence brought before her by the NFL, and reports have said the league chose to submit for her consideration only five of the two dozen allegations filed in civil court against Watson. None of the five women in the cases Robinson considered alleged violence on Watson’s part, and four were among the 24 women who had been suing him for damages.
Tony Buzbee, the Houston lawyer representing all of Watson’s civil-court plaintiffs, announced Monday that three more have settled out of court with the QB, after 20 had done so last month — meaning 23 of the 24 cases have now been resolved.
The Texans drafted Watson 12 th overall out of Clemson in 2017. His character was said to be impeccable.
Watson played four seasons with the Texans before the club decided to sit him for the entirety of last season, as the number of allegations of sexual misconduct against him kept rising, and with police investigations continuing.
Watson was named to the Pro Bowl three times from 2017-20, and is universally ranked among the top 3-5 young QBS in the league.
It was in March, in probably the biggest blockbuster deal in NFL history, that the Browns acquired Watson from Houston, sending the Texans three first-round draft picks (in 2022, 2023 and 2024), one third-round pick (2023) and two fourth-rounders (2022 and 2024) in exchange for Watson and a 2024 sixth-rounder.
As part of the deal the Browns agreed to rip up Watson’s $168-million, four-year extension set to kick in this coming season, and instead will now pay the 26-year-old $230 million over the next five years — all of it fully guaranteed. That’s nearly a quarter-billion dollars, or the equivalent in today’s currency of nearly $295 million Cdn.
Surely at the Watson camp’s request, the Browns structured his new contract so as to be massively back-loaded from an annual base-salary standpoint: He’s reportedly due to earn $46 million in each of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 but only $1.035 million this year.
In other words, the Watson camp anticipated some manner of lengthy suspension without pay for 2022, and wanted to minimize the hit on the QB’S bank account.
Because all NFL suspensions without pay ding only a player’s base salary in that season(s), and not any bonuses, a six-game suspension in 2022 would cost Watson only $345,000 — or 0.15% of his new contract.
So, at minimum, Watson will miss the first six games of the Browns’ 2022 regular season.