Deshaun Watson got his massive contract from the Cleveland Browns. What this tells us about the NFL is a troublesome truth we already knew.
You’re going to hear a lot of numbers as regards Deshaun Watson’s move to Cleveland. There’s the five-year, $230 million contract restructure he’ll get from the Browns. There’s the first-round draft picks Cleveland will give to the Texans in the trade — as many as three. There’s all the statistical stuff regarding how much better Cleveland’s offense might be with Watson over Baker Mayfield, who will surely be traded to another team, sooner than later.
But the number you need to remember here is 22. That’s the number of women who have filed civil lawsuits against Watson, claiming sexual assault and harassment. Watson is now past the criminal phase of those accusations, but he is by no means out of the woods with the NFL, who will undoubtedly broker an internal deal in which it makes an “example” of Watson with some sort of suspension, and touts this trade as part of free agency’s Grand Theater.
What this trade tells us is what we already knew — Deshaun Watson is a very talented quarterback, and because of that, anything he does off the field will be minimized and ignored by the league to a greater or lesser degree — to whatever degree the league finds convenient at any particular time.
One of the women who filed a civil suit against Watson, a freelance makeup artist who Watson asked for a massage through Instagram direct messages and later allegedly involved her in sexual behavior, said that Watson coerced “her against her will and left her powerless.”
There’s a lot of that going around right now. 22 women, who now see the alleged object of their traumas and nightmares, securing the bag as few athletes have ever done so before.
The excitement over Watson on the field is perfectly understandable. In 2020, he had an amazing season despite a dumpster fire of an offense around him, and as long as he’s able to put that level of talent on the field, even in an AFC that is more stacked than ever before, the Browns just moved from contenders to CONTENDERS.
Even one of the greatest athletes we’ve ever seen was not immune from that excitement when it came to his home team.
“YESSIR” and “#LFG?” Sure. There will be all kinds of that going around.
But the revulsion many were prepared to feel toward the team that eventually made this trade is just as justified, and quite a bit more so. We are told once again that as long as an athlete can perform at an elite level, compartmentalization of any awful off-field behavior will be the order of the day.
That Watson was able to decide his next destination via his no-trade clause, after allegedly denying so many women that same ability to consent, is the most twisted irony of them all.
Another twisted irony? In moving on from Mayfield, the Browns reportedly said that they wanted “an adult” at quarterback.
But as tends to be the case, teams in any sports can settle for talent over maturity when it’s a split deal.
About a week ago, the NFL had its sixth Women’s Careers in Football Forum. Dee Haslam, the Browns’ Managing and Principal Partner and the wife of team owner Jimmy Haslam, and Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski were part of the event. No doubt the Browns will tout this participation as part of its commitment to diversity and making sure that everybody has opportunities.
Expect to see more of that. Expect the Browns to try and sell as many pink jerseys as possible along the way.
This is not a specific indictment of the Cleveland Browns. Several teams were involved in the Watson sweepstakes, and it was simply the Browns who won. The issue is more global than local, and it’s not even as much about Deshaun Watson as it is about the sad truth that whatever Watson did to those women will be forgotten more and more with every touchdown pass, and every spectacular play.
Deshaun Watson will not be the first superstar to benefit from this, and he won’t be the last. That the NFL learns nothing from this is the saddest part of the entire exercise.
