For the past five years, the 27 lawsuits filed against former Texans and current Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson back in 2020 and 2021, for misconduct in a massage setting, have hovered over the Houston sports scene like a dark cloud. At times, the coverage was intense and sensational, like when the lawsuits were first filed or when Watson was ultimately traded to the Browns in March 2022. That summer, Watson settled most of the lawsuits, all but two.
Well, the saga has finally come to an end. Actually, it quietly came to an end over a month ago, on January 6 to be exact, when the final two cases against Watson were dismissed by the women who filed them. Both cases were set to go to trial in February and March.
The two lawsuits were part of a 27 lawsuit barrage filed against Watson a few years ago. 24 of those 27 lawsuits reached confidential settlements, while one was withdrawn shortly after filing. The remaining two were dismissed with prejudice in Houston, back on January 6, and those cases also ended with confidential settlements, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys. USA TODAY Sports was the first to report these settlements.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee represented 26 of the 27 women who filed lawsuits against Watson, including Lauren Baxley, one of the two final plaintiffs. Baxley’s original intent was to go to trial, as she initially refused settling with Watson. Baxley was one of the first plaintiffs to file suit against Watson back in March 2021. She was set to go to trial on March 30. The other remaining plaintiff is the only one of the 27 to be represented by someone other than Buzbee, and she was set to go to trial on February 18.
Watson initially denied any wrongdoing, including saying the first accuser was trying to execute a cash grab. From there, though, the accuser count piled up, and Watson was left to go through months of legal ordeals. This was all occurring while Watson was trying to get traded out of Houston by the Texans.
Watson spent the entire 2021 season on the Texans roster. On game days, he was a healthy inactive, and ultimately, once he was cleared of any criminal charges, the Texans had several suitors lined up to trade for him. Ultimately, the Browns won the Watson sweepstakes, trading seven draft picks to the Texans for the right to give Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
Watson has been an abjectly terrible football player for the Browns since arriving in Cleveland. After serving an 11-game suspension handed down by the NFL, Watson started a total of 19 games over three seasons, as injuries and poor play made his contract and that trade among the worst in the history of the NFL.
Watson suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the 2024 season, and missed all of 2025. He has one year remaining on his deal with the Browns, and appears to be healthy once again. The questions is “Do the Browns even want him?” At least they can rest assured that the legal drama is over. There will be no trials where we learn more about exactly what was going on with Watson in 2020 and 2021, when he was allegedly committing his massage misconduct.
After five long years, the Deshaun Watson massage lawsuit saga has ended, and now we wait the inevitable documentary on one of the most bizarre sports stories in Houston history.
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.