Editors’ note: This story contains accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org.
The Browns are working out several quarterbacks this week, including AJ McCarron and Josh Rosen, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The team wants to go into training camp with four quarterbacks, and assuming Deshaun Watson receives a significant suspension, Jacoby Brissett will be the starter for Cleveland.
As of now, Watson, Brissett and Joshua Dobbs are the only signal-callers on the team’s roster. Rosen and McCarron are seasoned backups who both last played for the Falcons. McCarron was also the second-string quarterback in Houston while Watson was there.
The team is waiting for a ruling from former U.S. District Court judge and arbitrator Sue L. Robinson regarding Watson violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy following 25 civil suits filed by massage therapists, each detailing graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault that occurred during massage therapy sessions. One lawsuit was dropped due to privacy concerns in April 2021 when plaintiffs had to reveal their identities. Originally, the earlier lawsuits were filed under “Jane Doe.”
The accounts range from Watson allegedly refusing to cover his genitals to the quarterback “touching [a plaintiff] with his penis and trying to force her to perform oral sex on him.”
Watson still faces four active civil lawsuits, after 20 were settled in June. That same month, The New York Times’ Jenny Vrentas reported that Watson booked at least 66 women over the span of 17 months for massage therapy sessions. The report also found that a Houston spa and the Texans “enabled” his massage habit.
One of the women who filed a lawsuit against Watson also lodged a civil suit against the team last month, reiterating that the franchise enabled his behavior.
The quarterback has denied all allegations against him, and two Texas grand juries declined to indict him on criminal charges. With the civil suits still ongoing, Cleveland traded for Watson in March and signed him to a five-year contract worth a guaranteed $230 million. A clause built into the contract mandates Watson will lose only $55,556 for every game he’s suspended this season.
Last Friday, attorney Tony Buzbee, who has represented the plaintiffs throughout the legal proceedings, announced that 30 women who made or planned to make claims against the Texans for the organization’s role in Watson’s sexual misconduct allegations had settled their claims.
