More than 30 women have come forward alleging sexual misconduct against Deshaun Watson while he was a member of the Houston Texans, as the star quarterback sought out masseuses in the Houston area on his own, despite the Texans providing that service internally. Watson has settled 20 civil suits against him, but still faces a handful of civil cases that were not willing to reach confidential settlements.
The dozens of allegations against Watson came after a trade request from the Texans and led to him sitting out last season (with Houston also settling civil suits with many of the women because of their role in enabling him by providing him with an NDA to get signed and letting him take a massage table from the facility). The Cleveland Browns were among the teams willing to overlook the allegations and not only trade for him but sign him to a fully guaranteed $230 million deal, that was purposefully structured so he wouldn’t lose much money if he was suspended for the entire first year, as the NFL was reportedly pushing for an indefinite suspension that would last at least one season.
However, the NFL and NFLPA battled over Watson’s suspension, taking it to the league’s third party disciplinary officer, former judge Sue Robinson, to preside over the decision. Ultimately, Robinson landed on six games as the suspension for Watson, without any further fine on top of it — with Watson only losing $333,333 because of the way the Browns structured his contract — as she claimed that while “egregious” his actions weren’t violent and as such didn’t merit an indefinite suspension.
Judge Sue L. Robinson’s decision says Deshaun Watson’s “pattern of behavior was egregious,” but notes that behavior was “nonviolent sexual conduct” in explaining the decision to suspend him six games, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 1, 2022
Judge Sue L. Robinson’s decision also says Deshaun Watson must get all his massage therapy from club therapists, per source. https://t.co/jBktmH3LoS
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 1, 2022
The league will have three days to appeal the ruling and one would expect that they will, as the six games is far fewer than they were pushing for and also makes them look extremely bad in the eyes of many, who will see Watson get six games for sexual misconduct and Calvin Ridley get 17 games for gambling on NFL games and see it as another example of football not caring about women.
Along with the six game suspension, Watson will be disallowed from receiving massages outside of the Browns facility as part of the ruling, but this situation seems far from over with the appeal process looming.