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.
Two of the many questions facing the NFL and Browns are whether Deshaun Watson will play this season and when fans will know the answer.
Cleveland traded for Watson in March and signed him to a five-year contract worth a guaranteed $230 million. But there’s a twist to the highest guaranteed contract ever—a clause was built into the contract where Watson will lose only $55,556 for every game he’s suspended this season.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently said that the league is “nearing the end of the investigation,” but no timeline was provided on when the disciplinary officer would issue a ruling. It turns out, though, that there is a key date that could play a role in when the decision will come.
June 30.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, this is the deadline for pretrial discovery in the 24 active civil lawsuits the quarterback is facing. Breer wrote that “in the 2020 CBA, the NFL ceded the initial decision-making on discipline to a neutral arbitrator. And if you’re thinking like an ex-U.S. district court judge would, it stands to reason that you’d want as much information as possible before rendering a decision.” Breer’s guess is that the decision will likely come in July.
The two dozen active civil lawsuits Watson is facing detail graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault that occurred during massage therapy sessions. 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.” The latest detailed that Watson masturbated and ejaculated on the plaintiff without her consent.
Watson has denied all allegations against him, and two Texas grand juries declined to indict him on criminal charges. However, the lawsuits and reports keep growing.
On Tuesday, The New York Times published a bombshell report on the quarterback, finding that the 26-year-old booked sessions with at least 66 different women for massage therapy sessions in the span of 17 months. Additionally, the Times’ Jenny Vrentas revealed that a Houston-based spa and the Texans “enabled” Watson’s massage habit, specifically that the franchise provided nondisclosure agreements and facilities for his sessions.
The 23rd active petition filed early last week not only detailed sexual misconduct but also asserts that A New U Salon Spa “provided” women for Watson. “Dionne Louis, the owner of the spa, facilitated massages for Watson and knew Watson was attempting to have sex with them,” it says. According to Cash App receipts and text messages included in the petition documents, “Watson paid Dionne Louis at least five thousand dollars for Louis’s ‘work.’”
The quarterback appeared to respond to the Times’ report in an Instagram story posted Tuesday as he quoted the song “Rich Off Pain.” He included the lyrics, “See, the blogs can’t break me down, see, I’m the voice, I don’t reply. But the rumors y’all done heard, I’ma humbly deny, yeah, yeah.” He proceeded to make his Twitter account private on Wednesday.
