As the NFL reportedly considers an extended suspension for the Cleveland Browns quarterback at his sexual misconduct hearing set to begin Tuesday, Deshaun Watson may not play in the upcoming season.
The NFL is requesting an indefinite suspension that would prevent Watson from being restored within the next year, according to a Saturday Wall Street Journal article. Requests for confirmation were not immediately answered by an NFL spokesman.
After two grand juries decided not to indict Watson on sexual misconduct allegations, the Browns acquired him in a trade with the Houston Texans. Watson signed a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract with the Browns in March.
The charges against Watson, a 26-year-old massage therapist, include forcing two women to engage in oral sex with him and forcibly touching others with his penis during private sessions.
Watson recently settled 20 of the 24 lawsuits he was facing in Texas. The settlements’ exact financial amounts have not been made public.
The allegations, which allegedly happened over a 17-month period from the fall of 2019 through the spring of 2021 while Watson was playing for the Texans, have been refuted by Watson.
The NFL’s revised personal conduct policy is being used for the first time at this hearing, and an impartial arbitrator will make the initial determination.
Sue Robinson, a former judge for the U.S. District Court, has been chosen as the representative in this lawsuit by both the NFL and the players’ union, according to the Journal.
Although a decision is anticipated by next week, either side may challenge any judgment.
The NFL might give itself greater leeway to raise Watson’s penalty in the event that additional allegations come to light during the ensuing months by suspending him indefinitely.
All 24 lawsuits—four of which are still pending—are included in the league’s case, according to the Journal, although it largely focuses on five cases that contain the strongest evidence against the former Clemson star.
Watson might be penalized in addition to being suspended, which would guarantee that he pays a significant financial fine in the event of a ban. Watson’s $230 million backloaded contract would shield him from a huge financial loss otherwise.
Watson will only receive $1 million in 2022, the year he might be suspended, and another $46 million per year for the following four years of his contract.
In this approach, Watson will suffer a loss of about $60,000 each game missed if he is suspended this season. To put things into perspective, if his contract were split up equally over the next five years, he would lose more than $2 million for each game he missed.
That is a difference of over $33 million.
Jeffrey Kessler, a well-known lawyer hired by the players’ union, will represent Watson at the hearing.
With 20 of his 24 accusers, Watson struck a private deal last week.
The NFL player has maintained his innocence ever since he was originally accused of sexual misbehavior by female massage therapists 15 months earlier, telling reporters earlier that he had no plans to settle the claims.
In particular, Watson is charged with forcing two women to engage in oral sex with him, forcing three women to ejaculate on him, and forcing one woman to kiss him. Meanwhile, 18 women claim Watson touched them with his penis while giving them massages.
Ashley Solis, the initial accuser to bring a complaint, is one of the four accusers who have not reached a resolution with Watson.
According to plaintiffs’ lawyer Tony Buzbee, “The cases against Deshaun Watson started with one phone call, from one brave and strong woman.” Ashley Solis was that person.
As a result of Ashley’s lone but courageous voice, several women who had allegedly witnessed the same behavior quickly felt empowered to speak up. I’m really honored to speak for them all. They have been subjected to hateful commentary and extreme ignorance.
Buzbee has already stated that he anticipates two more sexual misconduct claims naming Watson in addition to the four active complaints.
As the Browns held their required minicamp on June 14, Watson asserted, “I never assaulted anyone.” “I never bothered anyone or treated them with disrespect.” No one was ever subjected to my coercion.
In a story published earlier this month by The New York Times, it was revealed that during his time playing for the Texans, Watson scheduled dates with at least 66 different women. Previously, Hardin calculated that during his five seasons with the Texans, he had sessions with around 40 female massage therapists.
Not every woman has accused Watson of sexual assault, and at the request of his attorney, 15 women have come out in Watson’s defense.
The Texans were added as a defendant in the sexual misconduct cases after the Times article was published because they were reportedly responsible for arranging the massages.
The NFL team is accused of getting Watson a membership at the Houstonian, a local hotel and exclusive club where some of the alleged massages occurred.
The Times reported that a lady who gave Watson a massage at the hotel but is not named in the story claimed that she was informed that the room they slept in was “registered to a member of the Texans’ training crew.”
Watson had steadfastly refused to settle the lawsuits, as did his legal team. On June 14, he was questioned about whether recent lawsuits against him had affected his position.
I only want to clear my reputation so that I can allow the evidence and the judicial process to go, he said.
Watson said last week that he had been seeing a counselor ever since signing with the Browns.
Other women have made comparable allegations against Watson but have not yet launched a lawsuit.
One of these women told the Times that Watson was “pleading” with her to put her mouth on his penis, but she declined to be named out of respect for the privacy of her family.
She told the Times, “I specifically had to say, “No, I can’t do that.” I then asked him, “What’s it like being famous? “, and that is when he responded. What’s going on, like? You’re going to ruin everything.
Watson attempted to initiate sex at each of her three meetings with him, according to a different lady who did not file a lawsuit against him.
The Times made its revelations shortly after Watson was sued earlier this month by a 23rd and 24th woman.
The study, which contains excerpts from depositions in a civil lawsuit and interviews with several of the women, claims that Watson’s behavior was far worse than previously thought and that the Texans might have been aware of the issue.
Why he repeatedly met with with many new massage therapists is still a mystery. His attorney, Hardin, previously asserted that during the pandemic, his client needed to schedule sessions “ad hoc.”
The Houstonian, an exclusive hotel and exclusive club where many of the massages are believed to have occurred, is where the Texans allegedly got Watson a membership.
Because she knew Watson’s girlfriend and had once babysat her and her younger sibling years ago, one masseuse declined to meet with Watson at the hotel, stating that she wanted to keep things “professional and respectful.”
He replied via text, “Oh most definitely always professional,” as reported by the Times. I even have an NDA that my therapist has to sign.
This nondisclosure agreement is said to have been given to Watson by Brent Naccara, the Texans’ director of security and a former Secret Service agent.
After informing the Texans employee about Instagram posts from one particular woman, Nia Smith, who was threatening to reveal the quarterback’s actions, Watson apparently received the letter from Naccara.
Former Texas masseuse Katy Williams filed a lawsuit in Harris County earlier this month, alleging that the defendant revealed his erect penis and started masturbating during a session in August 2020. Williams claims that after reporting the incident to a friend, she ended up quitting her job.
The legal counsel for Watson’s NFL star client reportedly offered the other 22 plaintiffs $100,000 payouts in exchange for their agreement to a “aggressive” non-disclosure clause, according to a footnote in the 23rd sexual misconduct case against Watson.
Nia Smith’s lawsuit against Deshaun Watson, which was filed earlier this month, contained a footnote that stated, “Of course, we now know that Deshaun Watson offered each Plaintiff $100,000 to settle their cases, but not all would accept that amount, due to the aggressive nondisclosure agreement that Watson’s team proposed.”
A Hardin spokeswoman declined to clarify whether the defendant granted the plaintiffs $100,000 settlements when contacted by DailyMail.com.
This was not the first allegation of Watson offering his accusers, the most of whom are registered massage therapists in the Houston region, a $100,000 payment.
A settlement offer to an unnamed plaintiff was made public by the Daily Beast in January, with the terms that she accept the lawsuit’s “within 24 hours” dismissal with prejudice and abide by a non-disparagement clause prohibiting public criticism of Watson.
According to the January Daily Beast article, the woman didn’t sign the settlement offer.
The Miami Dolphins wanted Watson to provide settlements with NDA language while the team was considering acquiring him from Houston, where he played from 2017 to 2021, according to an earlier statement made by Hardin to podcaster and lawyer Gabe Feldman. On his podcast, Hardin informed Feldman that Buzbee requested the NDA in order to conceal the comparatively little settlements his clients would receive.
Smith, a certified cosmetologist from the Houston region, claims she met Watson three times in 2020 and that his “behavior grew worse after every massage.”
Smith claims in her lawsuit, which was filed in Harris County on Tuesday, that Watson repeatedly asked her if she wanted his penis in her mouth during their second session after touching her buttocks during their first. At one time,
According to Tuesday’s petition, “Plaintiff was feeling exceedingly uncomfortable by this point, but she wanted to keep professional and not cause any conflict.”
They were both alone in a room, and Watson was more bigger and stronger. She was utterly terrified of what he would do if she gave him a warning.
Smith asserts that Watson “repeatedly requested that [she] have sex with him” during their third encounter.
According to the complaint, Smith did not want to have the third massage but thought “she could not refuse” due to pressure from her employer at A New U Salon Spa, Dionne Louis.
Smith claims that Louis “facilitated” Watson’s massages, for which she received at least $5,000. Smith claimed that while Louis was aware that the quarterback was pressing her into sex, he disregarded her complaints about Watson.
DailyMail.com hasn’t been able to get in touch with Louis so far.
Smith claims that in order to escape Watson’s touching, she massaged him after their third appointment.
She claims that Smith left her job as a result. She also claims that as a result of her interactions with Watson, she is experiencing depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.