A lengthy Deshaun Watson suspension is believed to be coming soon, but the Browns continue to wait for that news to emerge. A full-season ban has become a real possibility for the quarterback who was accused by 24 women of sexual misconduct and/or sexual assault.
An independent officer, Sue Robinson, will decide on Watson’s discipline. That ruling is expected to happen before the Browns begin training camp. But Roger Goodell would handle an appeal. However, the NFL, NFLPA and Watson advisors entered talks about a negotiated punishment, Josina Anderson of USA Today tweets.
If a negotiated ban came to pass, Watson would waive his appeal right. These talks, however, broke down because the parties were not on the same page regarding suspension length, Anderson adds. This will keep the process moving toward Robinson’s decision.
If Robinson’s decision does not meet with NFLPA approval, the union plans to use recent punishments for teams and owners (or lack thereof) in its appeal. The NFLPA would cite NFL treatment of Dan Snyder, Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones in its Watson appeal, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes.
The NFL is believed to have changed its plans regarding what information was made public in its investigation into Snyder and the Commanders, which wrapped in 2021. That probe did not produce a written report of the league’s findings, leading to Congress becoming involved. The NFL fined the franchise $10MM, and Snyder gave up day-to-day operations. However, his involvement with the team since has been in question. Kraft pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution in connection with a January 2018 incident at a spa. The Patriots owner’s case was later dismissed, and no NFL punishment came down. The Cowboys paid a confidential $2.4MM settlement after four cheerleaders accused the team’s former senior vice president for public relations and communications, Rich Dalrymple, of voyeurism in the team’s locker room during a 2015 event at AT&T Stadium. The NFL did not investigate the Cowboys.
These arguments would bring other teams into the Browns’ controversy. The union believes its strategy would be more effective since the 2020 CBA moved Goodell further away from disciplinary matters, Florio adds. But with the NFL overseeing an appeal, it is unclear how much traction they will have considering both the volume of accusations levied against Watson and the league’s apparent hope for a year-long suspension.
Watson, who was not charged in connection with these accusations and has denied all wrongdoing, settled 20 of the 24 civil lawsuits against him this week. The NFL said that will not impact his potential punishment. The settlements will prevent Watson from going through most of his suits next year, which would take the prospect of the commissioner’s exempt list — something Goodell has already said would not apply here — completely off the table. If Watson were to miss 2022 games, it would only happen because of a suspension.
A whole season to get himself into even more trouble. They best get him either a chaperone or a chastity belt.
How about a girlfriend or a wife? Dude is a sex addict with terrible judgement. Absolutely shocking for a guy with this high of a public profile. Really have to question his judgement.
LOL never mind he has a girlfriend. Man has a girlfriend and he’s out at rub and tug shacks interacting w strange. Jeez. Takes all kinds, I guess.
And hookers are only visited by single gentlemen.
That’s true your wife’s boyfriend probably has a rubmaps premium account
Now I have to look-up what this rubmaps thing is.
If he was a eunuch (ie. castrated), all of his future troubles would be over…
Ya he could work in the Biden administration
He should be banned from the NFL. Period
So should Robert Kraft. I guess its a good thing a judge ordered the video destroyed though.
Ur right Krafts one action is just as bad as 24 grow up just because you don’t like the team its no excuse for clueless
So inappropriate behavior is dependent on number of people? Well guess murder isn’t bad if you kill 1 person. Gotta at least be double digits to count huh? Smooth brain. Also 1 action = multiple trips lmao.
Sexually harassing dozens of women is a little different than getting a rub a tug, bro.
Mmmmmm…one was consensual…the others weren’t. Sooooo, quite a difference.
Prostitution and sex trafficking is still illegal. You could buy drugs off of a dealer and both can agree on the price. Try telling the police that it’s consensual. Some people on here have no clue of facts and laws
Paying for sex is illegal but hey why let facts law and stuff get in the way. You know you can say both were wrong right? You don’t have to try and justify krafts behavior.
The worlds oldest profession
And Kraft was the oldest customer
Shouldn’t there be some proof first?
This guy should fall on the sword and admit he’s a sex addict. This will be the only way he could reconcile a successful career from here on
America loves a redemption story but still hates liars. He’s obviously confused about social respect for women. He thinks being naked, in a position where a professional masseuse must have her hands on him, then casually opining for oral sex, is socially acceptable
Sadly more famous athletes get away with this behavior regularly. It must stop
He will get punished a whole year, NFLPA will negotiate 9 games, he will receive sex addiction counseling, and he will be a hero again
It’s already happening. I believe you’re right in the fact that he won’t miss the whole season after the appeal. They may even get a negotiated suspension
All of 2022 and fine him his salary from last season. That’s about as much as the NFL will do and fairly reasonable compared to the average NFL suspension.
Suspend him for the season without pay
Well, yeah, that’s my point. Effectively a two year suspension, unpaid, from last season.
He got paid last year
“The NFLPA would cite NFL treatment of Dan Snyder, Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones in its Watson appeal, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes.”
Just once, use this excuse to ACTUALLY punish the other guys instead of just letting everyone off.
Exactly. None of those guys got anything despite proof of wrongdoing.
I mean, how even could they do such a thing? None of these guys are players. You can’t really do much to them directly save fines. By this logic you can’t suspend Watson at all, which we know woln’t happen.
The league suspended Irsay. I believe the league stepped in on Richardson too. MLB forced Marge Schott to sell the Reds and the NBA forced an owner to sell. It happens.
Realistically, they already ruled on Kraft. Hard to do much there.
Snyder is still very much on the table.
I am aware of a bunch of reprehensible things Jerry Jones has done outside the NFL, not sure why he was lumped in with the other two examples in terms of requiring NFL discipline. Did I miss something?
A guy that was in the employment of Dallas was Secretly watching cheerleaders undress. Jones paid off said cheerleaders withholding this from the NFL.
Exactly they already ruled on Kraft. The NFLPA isn’t bringing him up because they want Kraft to be punished, they’re bringing him up because they want Watson to receive a less severe punishment because Kraft got nothing. I mean Kraft deserved some sort of punishment don’t you think? Paying for sex is sex trafficking and a crime
I have no idea how this Linda Robinson came to be the sole person deciding on punishment. I assume she is paid by someone so how could she be considered an independent officer. No matter what she decides, there is almost certainly going to be appeals that drag out this process for many more months. Watson will likely be in the news cycle as long as Kaepernick has been.
I believe it was negotiated in the CBA which is why Robinson’s ruling, if appealed, is heard by Goodell, just like in the good ole days. He used to just skip the independent party altogether, rule on it, and then hear the appeal. Never made any sense to appeal to the same person. Which is one, of many reasons, the nflpa was weak in the years past. We will see with the new president/CBA how it goes…
Pro Football Rumors should be ashamed of themselves… filtering out any comments that don’t condemn Deshaun Watson, out of hand.
God forbid anyone cite actual law or the Bill of Rights.
I mean we’re talking about a black athlete here, not a white owner… this is pro football rumors for crying out loud.
Take your silly fairness elsewhere.
Meanwhile, calls for castration and lifetime bans, based on mere allegations, can’t get to the message board fast enough.
Disgusting
Your stupid comment is still here so I guess they didn’t filter it out. Nobody has said a word about the color of his skin. I guess we are all racist because we think 24 women are too many to be a coincidence. There were just as many people saying those 3 owners should be banned too. Kraft got the film of the girl smoking his cigar destroyed Snyder is still under investigation and who knows what Gerry did to get no penalties. Those guys have enough money to make things go away. Sad but true Watson isn’t on that scale.
Yeah, could I possibly be referring to a post that you never got to see, bc it got filtered by “moderation”?
…hence the whole point of my first sentence?
It was just a post listing things that should be considered… things I noticed that make me hesitate to just blindly believe these 24 women are totally honest and Watson, who was clean up until this, suddenly went full scumbag.
I mentioned race to force the SJW who deleted my post, to Sophie’s Choice between two virtue signals. That’s all.
Thing is, I have no idea what ‘rule’ i violated and what to avoid in the future. So… job well done, mod?Personally, I think I may have struck a nerve mentioning Steeler fans.
Wow, what a triggered little incel snowflake…do you need a safe space?
“things I noticed that make me hesitate to just blindly believe these 24 women are totally honest and Watson, who was clean up until this, suddenly went full scumbag.”
“Until those 24 women accused him of things…nobody accused him of ANYTHING…so…they MUST be lying!!!”
You think “hesitate to blindly believe” equals “they must be lying”?? Well, it doesn’t… at all.
…and then that equates to me being an “incel”? It somehow is indicative of my sex life?
I’m guessing you’re a lot of fun at parties?
I’m simply advocating for a fair trial, and that a decision be evidence-based, not based on mere accusations.
That’s what I would want if it were myself in his shoes, especially if they were false allegations.
I’d assume you would want the same if it were you possibly being falsely accused.
…and we still need to allow ‘false accusation’ as a possibility, BECAUSE we haven’t seen any tangible proof that it definitely happened, not even ‘probably’ happened. We just have an avalanche of allegations.
My post that was “moderated” explained why the number of allegations could actually indicate his innocence. But that wasn’t allowed to be seen.
No, I have never needed a safe space. I am a proud Gen Xer, and comfortable in my own skin, within any space, haha.
I’d just like a little more due process for Watson, and a little more diversity of opinion to see the light of day on this board.
Just checking, you said the same about Cosby and Weinstein, is that correct?
I sure did, initially.
However, shortly after the allegations started rolling, there was tangible evidence that supported some of the women’s allegations, i.e–video/audio and text/email… IIRC
Now, a number of the women in both those cases, however, lacked any evidence aside from their testimony, and I’d still respect a claim that those could have been opportunistic ‘piling on.’
Since no one here called for castration or mentioned race, besides you, I’d be curious to hear you cite “actual law” or the Bill of Rights to see what you invent.
Castration was in one of the first 5 comments of the earliest string, some guy called Lars something.
The post referencing the Bill of Rights was what got filtered by “moderation”.
So… nobody saw it.
I’d love to satisfy your curiosity, but since it was deleted out of hand, I have no idea what the problem was, and what would just get it deleted again. Sorry
So funny that the NFL pretends to care about this cause or that one – yet doesn’t really care about anything but the almighty dollar. No real impartial body “negotiates” a settlement.
It’s almost like capitalism is a good economic system, but a terrible morality system and way too many people think the former doubles as the latter.
I’m still interested on how Roger handles this? The NFL has spent millions on this equity thing? You can’t promote women in the sport and claim respect to genders then let an accused womanizer play at all? But as mentioned in other posts: There are multiple owners doing the same. So business as usual.
This is a no-win for Goodell because it will be viewed as both a gender and racial issue. No matter what action he takes one of those groups will be dissatisfied.
A womanizer? Oh boy. He exposed himself most likely and propositioned the women. Sit for 8 games and then move on. I’ve seen women expose themselves at Mardi Gras and I got over it
I think Goddell will hammer him. He was called to DC this week to address the Snyder thing, describe how bad it was and also finished by saying he was unable to hand out the justice sought. That is not the case with an player, so with this fresh in his head he’s not going to be grilled on why he slapped this guys wrist and then watched him re-offend.
Have you been to Church praying that Watson gets a year? Goodell isn’t the guy dishing out the suspension
“Discipline – A player violates this policy when he has a disposition of a criminal proceeding (as defined), or if the league’s investigation demonstrates that he engaged in conduct prohibited by the Personal Conduct Policy. In cases where a player is not charged with a crime, or is charged but not convicted, he may still be found to have violated the Policy if the credible evidence establishes that he engaged in conduct prohibited by this Personal Conduct Policy.
A disciplinary officer, a member of the league office staff who will be a highly-qualified individual with a criminal justice background, will follow the process outlined below to investigate a potential violation, produce a report and if desired present a disciplinary recommendation for the Commissioner’s consideration. The COMMISSIONER will review the report (and recommendation if presented) and determine the appropriate discipline, if any, to be imposed on the player.”
Not what I read. Robinson will dish out the punishment and Goodell will hear the appeal and rule on that. In essence, Goodell will be the final say because Watson and the NFLPA will likely appeal any suspension, as they should. Unless it’s an agreed upon suspension where he gives up his right to appeal. Watson is already meeting with a counselor and he made amends. All things the league will look favorably upon. This is not my opinion but the opinion of the Browns beat writers who are a lot closer to this than me or you. Looks like we’re gonna get our quarterback back
Thanks for posting your opinion to counter the facts I posted. Furthermore:
“The process begins with the league notifying the player of the potential violation for which discipline may be imposed. And while it’s not spelled out expressly in the policy, the league undoubtedly will recommend or request a specific duration of suspension. The Disciplinary Officer then proceeds to evaluate the situation. The process can, but is not required to, culminate in a full-blown evidentiary hearing.
Things get interesting once the Disciplinary Officer issues a decision. The Commissioner, or his hand-picked designee, continues to have full authority over the appeal. Based on the language of the policy, the Commissioner has broad powers when it comes to reviewing, revising, or reversing the Disciplinary Officer’s decision: “The decision of the Commissioner or his designee, which may overturn, reduce, modify or increase the discipline previously issued, will be final and binding on all parties.”
There’s an important caveat. While the Commissioner has the power to “overturn, reduce, modify or increase the discipline previously issued,” the Commissioner cannot alter a decision to not discipline the player at all. The league office has indeed confirmed that, if the Disciplinary Officer finds that there should be no discipline at all, the case is over.
That said, if any discipline whatsoever is imposed by the Disciplinary Officer (including, presumably, even a fine), the Commissioner has the power to “modify or increase” the punishment to whatever he wants it to be.
Or decrease. Watson will serve a suspension but he’ll be the Browns quarterback for years to come. He’s a huge upgrade over Mayfield and I like Baker.
“Years to come”….yeah, no doubt he’ll be doing that in Cuyahoga County massage parlors for the next few seasons.
He’s doing counseling. He’ll be fine. Don’t you worry
Not sure why as he did he and you claim he nothing wrong and has no issues. Hopefully they assign him some crusty old man, otherwise he’ll likely be sitting there with his junk out asking the shrink for a happy ending.
You can always ask and they can always say no.
I totally agree that the league has painted themselves into a corner on this.
the NFL will want to suspend him for a yr and the NFLPA which only seems to care about getting the players less punishment will get it down to 6 games at most. I hate it when they do that but it is what it is .
That’s the job of the players association. If you got a DUI, would you hire a lawyer that agrees with what the prosecutor wants to give you as a punishment?
Kaepernick level ban
Kap wasn’t suspended.