A Terribly Tone Deaf Message

Yet another woman has accused DeShaun Watson of sexual misconduct.  That now makes 24.  Watson continues to proclaim his innocence, but does that even matter at this point?  The man has no business playing in the NFL until his legal situation is resolved.  Not getting a massive contract to be the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback.

To be fair, Watson hasn't been criminally charged in any of the complaints.  The civil cases are still pending, however.  And the NFL does still have the option of suspending him if they find he violated the personal conduct policy.  They're presumably waiting for everything to play out first, but that's not good enough.  Because he should've been suspended already.

I'm not the only person who thinks this.  Mike Florio went on Rich Eisen's radio show and said the same thing.  And, frankly, it's the only sensible thing to do.  Because the NFL and the Cleveland Browns both look very, very bad right now.

Watson didn't play at all for the Texans last season.  He was on the roster all year, but was the inactive third quarterback for every game.  There were several reasons for that, the pending litigation being one of them.  But it was also because Watson had already worn out his welcome in Houston and requested a trade.  They couldn't trade him last offseason, so that was their way of dealing with him while not having to deal with him.

That was absolutely the best way to go about it last season when everything was still pending.  It wasn't a long-term solution, though, and the Texans knew that.  Their plan was to trade him in the offseason, which is exactly what they did, sending him to Cleveland for a fully-guaranteed $230 million over five years, the most guaranteed money in NFL history.  Despite already having Baker Mayfield on the roster.

While some may see it as a shrewd football move by the Browns, it's actually a very tone-deaf one.  I'm all for innocent until proven guilty, but what does this say to Watson's accusers?  All those women see is him being rewarded with $46 million a year to play football while their voices are ignored.

Contrast this situation to Trevor Bauer's.  Bauer has also not been criminally charged with anything.  That didn't stop MLB from immediately putting him on administrative leave and continually extending that leave thru the end of last season as they conducted their investigation.  Despite there being no criminal charges, MLB's investigation determined that Bauer did something and suspended him without pay for 324 games.  That's two full seasons!

MLB sent Trevor Bauer a very clear message.  Whether it was technically a "crime" or not, your conduct was unacceptable and we don't want you around.  They believed the woman and took what they thought was appropriate action.  Even if Bauer has the suspension reduced on appeal, it's obvious that he has no place in the game.  There's no question the Dodgers won't be welcoming him back, and I doubt he'll be able to catch on with anybody.  It's very possible that Bauer's Major League career is over.

Unfortunately, the NFL is sending the exact opposite message with DeShaun Watson.  He was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women (and that number just keeps growing) and has faced absolutely no consequences for his actions.  In fact, he got exactly what he wanted.  He didn't want to be in Houston anymore, complained his way out of town, and got a massive guaranteed contract somewhere else. Sorry, but that just rubs me the wrong way.  And I'm not the only one.

The NFL isn't entirely to blame here.  The Browns deserve their fair share of criticism, as well.  Cleveland has to know how this looks to a good portion of both their fanbase and NFL fans in general.  It's obvious they're either willing to take the PR hit or, even worse, simply don't care.  As long as DeShaun Watson can help them win football games (and I'm not even sure he's an upgrade over Mayfield, but that's beside the point).

Ultimately, though, the responsibility here falls on the league itself.  It's the NFL that has the personal conduct policy.  Sure, teams are able to discipline players themselves for violating team rules, but this isn't that.  He's been on the Browns for three months.  They traded for him knowing that this was hanging over his head and pulled the trigger anyway.  So, unless he's done something to violate team policy since then, they would have no reason to issue any sort of team suspension (Watson, in fact, was at the Browns' golf outing on Monday).

And, frankly, this is what the NFL's personal conduct policy is for.  Under the current CBA, Roger Goodell has the authority to suspend players up to six games (or longer if warranted) for personal conduct policy violations.  And he hasn't been shy about using that power in the past.

In 2014, Ray Rice was suspended two games under the personal conduct policy for a domestic incident with his then-fiancee...and was released by the Ravens as a result.  Or how about Jamies Winston?  He was suspended three games in 2018 under the personal conduct policy for inappropriate behavior towards a female Uber driver.

So why hasn't Watson been suspended yet?  Is his behavior somehow not as bad as Rice's or Winston's?  If not, what's even the point of the personal conduct policy then? 

If you want to wait to conclude your investigation first that's one thing, but the NFL doesn't even seem to be doing that.  He's essentially being given a free pass.  By not suspending Watson, the NFL is implicitly condoning his behavior.  And by trading for him as if it's nothing, the Cleveland Browns are complicit.

There's a simple solution here, and it's the one the NFL should've taken a long time ago.  If you don't want to suspend him without pay fine, but, at the very least, DeShaun Watson should be put on paid leave while this plays out.  Because right now, no one looks good.  Not the NFL.  Not the Cleveland Browns.  And certainly not DeShaun Watson.