Alleged Creep Deshaun Watson Receives Suspension

 

Judge Sue Robinson passed down punishment this morning for Deshaun Watson after being accused by 24 women of sexual misconduct. He will miss only six games to start the season and then figures to settle in as the long-term starter for the Cleveland Browns after signing a 5-year $230 million contract. 

Uncertainty surrounding the entire situation is always unfortunate with a high profile athlete, especially one as wealthy and talented as Watson, but with so many accusations, this light of a sentence hard to fathom. The Browns have seemingly acknowledged that Watson's talent on the field outweighs the legal and moral issues involved with his case. The Houston Texans have taken damage control measures and settled with 30 women that accused Watson, who maintains that all of these encounters were consensual. In my opinion, for the league to come up short on this is disappointing and pressure coming from the NFLPA no doubt played a role in this (they claimed he shouldn't be suspended at all), which feels slimy. Even more disappointing is that the Texans organization may have been aware of these happenings and didn't make any effort to intervene, but let's hope that's not the case. Of course, the Texans deny this vehemently and denied any wrongdoing.  

It's especially sinister when you read the personal accounts from the accusers and consider the position of power Watson was in simply by being a rich NFL quarterback. Here's a small snippet of what these folks were supposedly dealing with via Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: "I know you have a career to protect, I know you don't want anyone messing with it just like I don't want anyone messing with mine." The intimidation and threatening tone here would imply that he understood what he was doing.   

The NFL has its fair share of problems, these are well documented but the reality is that no one is really ever going to stop watching games. Your great-uncle who hates kneeling for the flag isn't affecting their viewership or hurting their bottom line even if he stops watching on Sundays. The Shield has survived Spygate, Deflategate, Bountygate and a litany of other scandals, this ain't gonna be the one that shatters the empire. There's known questionable benefits for retirees, lingering concerns about player safety, an expanding schedule, and documented CTE, but who are we kidding? All of these things are drowned out by the din of the crowd on Sunday as Scott Hanson fires up a Quad Box and you settle in for NFL Sunday. I get it, I'm guilty of the same thing. 

Just keep in mind Deandre Hopkins tested positive for a trace amount of a banned substance, likely betrayed by an approved product that failed third party testing, and is receiving the same punishment as Watson. Calvin Ridley placed a parlay (admittedly dumb) and was slapped with a one year ban. Drawing a hard line in the sand with banned substances and player conduct but allowing Watson to walk away with a slap on the wrist just doesn't make much sense to me. Can it really be considered a punishment if the Browns organization gave Watson one of the richest QB contracts in the league while all this was unfolding and he doesn't get fined? Sadly, this is just another example that winning games is the most important thing to these teams and owners, at any cost. I, like so many others, love the NFL but the Deshaun Watson debacle is a black eye for the league that too many will forget about if the Browns win some games this fall. It's a meat market, we all know the issues, but nobody can change the channel.