Haslams say women in family were ‘on board’ with Watson
BEREA — Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said Friday they involved their adult daughters, Whitney and Cynthia, in the controversial decision to trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Jimmy Haslam said another relative and a counselor who works with people who have been sexually abused suggested the women in his family should have final say on whether the Browns would make the blockbuster move.
“Both of them said exactly the same thing — they said, 'Your daughters and Dee ought to have veto over this trade, and if they're not for it, if anyone of them is not for it, you shouldn't do it,' ” Jimmy Haslam said. “And at first, I thought, 'That's interesting.' Then I thought, 'That makes a lot of sense.' And everybody was on board with doing this, some later than earlier, but everybody was on board on moving forward with this trade for Deshaun.”
Jimmy and Dee Haslam stressed how seriously they weighed the decision to pursue Watson because nearly two dozen women have accused him of sexual misconduct or sexual assault during massage appointments. The first of 22 active civil lawsuits was filed in March 2021. Two grand juries in Texas declined to indict Watson on March 11 and Thursday, something Jimmy Haslam touted, even though only the first ruling had been made prior to the March 18 trade.
“We got very comfortable with Deshaun Watson the person,” Jimmy Haslam said.
Asked if his comfort with Watson means he doesn't believe the allegations, Jimmy Haslam said, “We trust the legal process, and I think due process does exist in our country. And the extensive amount of time we spent researching him led us to make the decision we made.”
Jimmy Haslam said he and his wife
have close friends — men and women — who are victims of sexual abuse.
“This has been a really hard and difficult journey for us and our family,” Dee Haslam said. “We spent a lot of time and a lot of evenings spending time with our daughters and working through this as a family. I have to tell you it was really hard, and we had to work really hard to get comfortable with the decision.
“We knew going in this was going to be really hard on the individuals and trigger emotions from individuals that had been through sexual abuse. I just have to tell you our compassion for those individuals is really deep. We know how hard this has been on them.”
Asked whether either of the daughters begged for the trade to not be pursued, Jimmy Haslam said, “Absolutely not.” Then he deferred to his wife.
“I think our daughters had some really incredible comments on it,” Dee Haslam said. “We were pretty thoughtful of giving them all the information as well, so I think that was just part of the process for our family, really thinking about all the details and what comes of it.
“I think they worry about individuals that have experienced sexual abuse and how this would impact them. I think that's been our concern as a family. How is it going to impact people that have experienced sexual abuse and what are they going to think? We care about these people, so that's been something we've thought about.”