Deshaun Watson has been suspended for six games, or put another way: eight or nine pass attempts for each woman who says he harassed or assaulted her. Think about that. Oh, you rubbed your genitals on a massage therapist trying to do her job? You’ll have to sit out the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. It’s a piddling punishment, and it reinforces what has been clear since the Browns made him the face of their franchise last winter: The job of holding Watson responsible is ours.
These allegations should stick to Watson for the rest of his career. It’s up to journalists, analysts and fans with a conscience to see him not just as Deshaun Watson, star quarterback, but as Deshaun Watson, star quarterback who has been sued by 24 women and settled with 23 of them. It is his cross to bear. Make him bear it.
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Nobody else will do it. The legal system is poorly equipped for these kinds of cases, even when there are so many of them. The NFL aimed for a one-year suspension and lost. The NFL Players Association defended its dues-paying member, as unions do. The arbitrator, former federal judge Sue L. Robinson, was limited by the personal conduct policy and the failure of the legal system.
Then there are the Browns, who sold their souls to get Watson and then used the proceeds to give him a new contract. They tore up Watson’s old deal, signed him to a new one worth $230 million, and back-loaded it so that if he was suspended this season, the financial penalty would be minimal (the Browns deny this).
The six-game suspension means Watson will now be paid more per snap than he would have been with no suspension. He loses only $345,000 total in game checks.
Cleveland has claimed it did its due diligence on Watson, who has denied all allegations. Whatever. The Browns don’t care about Watson’s conduct, and they are counting on their fans not caring.
The facts here are easily clouded by the public’s tendency to see sports figures as TV stars instead of real people, so forget for a moment that he is a star quarterback. Think of a man moving in next door.
You meet him. He is clearly smart, friendly, seems nice enough. Then you find out he settled lawsuits with 23 women who described misconduct ranging from forced groping to oral penetration. His old company, which viewed him as a star employee, settled lawsuits with 30 women. So you do some more digging, and you find out that this guy, who claims he needs massages for physical therapy, met 66 massage therapists in 17 months, something no reasonable person would do if all he wanted was somebody who could give a professional massage.
What would you think then?
That is who Watson is. Remember it every time you speak his name. Force the Browns to own it. Don’t gush about him on TV the way Stephen A. Smith gushed about Floyd Mayweather, who was convicted of domestic abuse three times.
Sports are an escape, and a lot of fans (especially in Cleveland) might be tempted to view Watson solely as a football player. It’s easier that way and a lot more fun. But it is important to remember that he is the same guy who hired all those massage therapists for no defensible reason and left so many of them feeling traumatized.
It matters because the way we view Watson is not just about Watson. It’s a signal to millions of survivors. Society needs an embedded understanding that these kinds of offenses are serious, regardless of how well you do your job, how much money you make or how famous you are.
We’re making progress. Major League Baseball suspended disgraced pitcher Trevor Bauer for two full seasons without a criminal conviction because of the horrifying accounts about him. Bauer is appealing. But between this suspension and his previous paid leave of absence, he has already missed more than a full year of his career, and most telling is how few of his fellow major leaguers have defended him. That will dampen his market if he ever does come back. A generation ago, the Bauer story would have played out very differently.
The NFL is hyperaware of public perception and has surely noticed the disparity between Bauer’s punishment and Watson’s. But different leagues have different processes with different limits to those processes, and the NFL might have to live with a six-game suspension.
You might understand why Robinson decided on a six-game suspension. You might think Watson belongs on the field. You might even understand why the Browns looked at the hypercompetitive NFL marketplace and figured if they didn’t acquire Watson, somebody else would. But those accounts should still follow Watson wherever he goes. The Browns made their choice. You can make yours.
