If you are some kind of “sports fan masochist,” and care to relive any of the horror of having Deshaun Watson on the Houston Texans back in the spring of 2021, after he demanded a trade and then proceeded to become the defendant on two dozen sexual assault lawsuits, making him effectively untradeable, then tune into Cleveland sports talk radio these days, because Deshaun Watson is back to getting sued once again.
This time, as we outlined in this space last week, it’s not a massage therapist suing Watson, but instead a Houston woman, under a “Jane Doe” pseudonym, who claims to have gone on a date with Watson in October 2020, in which allegedly Watson sexually assaulted her in her apartment, in far more disturbing and graphic fashion than any of the massage lawsuits of 2021, which is saying something.
Tony Buzbee is representing Jane Doe, same way he represented the slew of plaintiffs a couple years ago, and Watson has retained Rusty Hardin’s services as his legal representation. Both Buzbee and Hardin, in public statements, have intimated that this particular lawsuit has a good chance of going to trial, unlike the settlements for which Watson scratched out checks two years ago with the masseuse plaintiffs.
The expectation is that, over the next couple weeks, Jane Doe will meet with the NFL. Buzbee has stated that he has at least one other compelling witness, as well as video evidence he intends to share. In other words, this is another Watson land mine set to explode on the city of Cleveland. Here are my broader thoughts on this, as well as possible football ramifications for Watson and the Browns:
Cleveland probably didn’t plan for this, but they should have.
Keep in mind, the Watson trade to Cleveland went down BEFORE he had even settled his two dozen lawsuits with his accusers. The main trigger point to a trade happening in 2022 was Watson’s CRIMINAL exoneration. In other words, once NFL teams learned Watson wouldn’t be going to prison, they viewed him as acceptable to trade for.
Never mind that, even after Watson settled most of the lawsuits, at least one woman refused to settle. Never mind that it’s illogical to think that someone sociopathic enough to do the things Watson is accused of doing with two dozen women wouldn’t have at least a few stragglers out there. Yet the Browns couldn’t wait to trade six draft picks to the Texans for the right to guarantee Watson the most money of any NFL player in history. When I type that sentence, it still feels surreal.
It was already REALLY bad, even before this latest lawsuit!
Here’s the thing that matters most to football fans — since signing that deal, WATSON HAS SUCKED AT FOOTBALL! Through a combination of injuries, some rust, and clear psychological damage caused from now being hated by fans, Watson has devolved into one of the worst quarterbacks in the sport. Browns fans were trying o find a way to eject from his deal, even BEFORE Jane Doe came off the top rope with the latest legal elbow drop on Watson. $178 million of remaining cap dollars Watson accounts for AFTER this season make the math impossible for them to move on without practically making it impossible to field a team. This is the most Cleveland thing ever.
Cleveland fans are probably rooting for a suspension, and here’s why.
The NFL is in the early stages of their latest Watson investigation, so we are likely a long ways off from any possible sort of punishment of the Browns’ quarterback. Ironically, though, Browns fans are likely rooting for a suspension, and here’s why — if Watson were to get suspended by the league, it would likely negate the guarantees on his future salaries in 2025 and 2026, $92 million total, and the Browns would be able to more easily end the Watson Era with a pink slip.
The Browns are still on the hook for around $80 million in dead money, signing bonus and restructure bonus dollars they paid Watson and crammed into future seasons’ salary caps, but $80 million is way easier to swallow in dead money than $172 million. So yes, we are now heading at warp speed into a space where Browns fans are HOPING the NFL suspends the quarterback for whom their front office traded three first round picks, three later round picks, and committed $230 million in guarantee money.
Deshaun Watson remains a disaster of nuclear proportions on every imaginable level — football, financial, and societal. Congrats, Cleveland!
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
