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.
