Deshaun Watson may be playing elsewhere, but the Texans are still very much involved in the quarterback’s ongoing legal issues. Attorney Tony Buzbee announced that he is including the Houston Texans organization in the lawsuits against Watson (via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com on Twitter).
[RELATED: Latest On Browns QB Deshaun Watson]
“Based on what we have learned from the Houston Police Department, we will soon be joining the Houston Texans organization and others as defendants in the ongoing lawsuits against Deshaun Watson,” the attorney wrote in a message. “Our team has thoroughly vetted each case. We are considering many others. These women are the true heroes in this sordid story. What has become clear is that the Houston Texans organization and their contracting “massage therapy company” facilitated Deshaun Watson’s conduct. In many of these cases, the Texans provided the opportunity for this conduct to occur. We believe the Texans organization was well aware of Watson’s issues but failed to act. They knew or certainly should have known. The Houston Texans organization provided rooms for Watson at the high-end Houstonian hotel for his “massages”; the Texans also provided massage tables and other support for Watson’s proclivities – ostensibly to protect their “asset.” We intend to make sure all involved in Watson’s conduct are held accountable, in addition to and including Watson himself.”
The Texans released a statement responding to the impending lawsuit (via Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com on Twitter):
“We take accusations of this nature that involve anyone within the Houston Texans organization seriously. We will await further information before making any additional statements on this incident.”
Wilson also cites the organization’s statement from March of 2021, when the Texans said they only became aware of the lawsuit that month and hadn’t previously “heard of the matter.”
Buzbee’s talks with the Houston Police Department and lawsuit announcement follows yesterday’s New York Times report that Watson received massages from at least 66 women over a 17-month span from fall 2019 to spring 2021. Civil testimony included in the NYT report had Watson admitting that the Texans helped him with an nondisclosure agreement in 2020, and the player took NDAs to all future massaging sessions. The report also noted that the Texans set up Watson with a membership at the exclusive hotel that the attorney mentioned in his statement. Effectively, Buzbee is alleging that the organization either knew or should have known about Watson’s conduct before everything came to light.
The Browns QB has continued to deny any wrongdoing. The NFL has just about wrapped up their investigation, and a suspension is likely to be announced at some point in July.
Innocent people usually carry NDA’s with them everywhere they go.
The Houston Texans might want to hire a better attorney than Rusty Hardin.
Not sure anyone should be hiring an attorney named Rusty. I also just googled him and he’s 80 years old and has the worst wig I’ve seen in a long time.
But the dude is a good lawyer.
Given that Watson is not in jail this seems to indicate that he’s a better lawyer than the one representing the women.
Both lawyers involved here have really good reputations (as in winning cases, not necessarily good people). These are the best of the best in the Houston area.
Anyone who works for any type of corporation is going to have NDAs. It really doesn’t prove anything beyond that somebody with a lot of money didn’t want somebody talking about his/her business.
There are other allegations or facts that are more substantial than the presence of an NDA.
Is Vincent Gambini available?
Two yutes, your Honor
Hello ma’am, please sign on the dotted line…now can I get a BJ? Pulllllleeeeeze?
this was a skit on The Chappelle Show
Well thats one way to ruin your case I suppose. Paying for a room, knowing or unknowing of his actions, is a big legal reach. Theyd have to prove each instance the organization knew what was about to take place to be liable or considered an accomplice. Not very easy to prove the organization knew what he was planning.
99% chance Watson never said “hey book me a room for a happy ending.”
99% chance Watson asked them to book a room and they said sure will do and never once asked why.
Supplying NDA is a little puzzling don’t you think?
Think these women are gonna run to bookies to share potential injuries he was having worked on?
People seem to forget about the age old dont ask don’t tell policy
What people think happened
Watson: I need an nda
Texans: what for DeShaun our superstar quarterback
Watson: well I did some things
What probably happened:
Watson: hey I need an nda written up
Texans: no problem DeShaun our super star quarterback anything to keep you happy
Watson: do you wanna know why?
Texans: no we do not. Here it is. Good luck with whatever going on.
The NY Times article really blew the lid off this mess. The Texans are in deep doo. And the Brown’s clown owner is sweating bullets. Meanwhile Watson is incredibly still saying that all the women are lying and none of it happened. What a s$it show.
He never said none of it happened. He said it was consensual and apparently the Grand Juries agreed with him. 9 of the women were so offended that they had to see him multiple times afterwards because they didn’t know what they were feeling
He is on record as saying none of what the women have said is true. That he did none of what he’s accused of. The juries only agreed it wasn’t criminal, not that it didn’t happen. You can defend him all you want, but this is gonna be a nightmare for your precious Browns and their a$$hat owner.
imagine thinking NYT supplies accurate details and not just headlines.
sorry bro. not 1997 anymore .. NYT is buzzfeed printed on paper
I want to see Deshaun miss the season cuz it’d be funny, but he’s prob getting these heinous charges dropped one by one.
remember , every minute detail uncovered must be represented as a shocking story worth reading
didn’t NYT say Heard was winning vs depp… ya pop news , no longer accurate
The Texans are now included in the lawsuits because of that NY Times piece. Whether you want to believe what you read or not, it most definitely affected this case.
The Texans are added because they’re a multi billion dollar company. Have you ever heard of a homeless person getting sued?
Well heck, according to your logic, why didn’t they add Mobil oil or Apple? They’re multi billion dollar companies? Ridiculous.
Trust me if the lawyer found out Watson stopped for gas at Mobil, he’d add them too. Why doesn’t he sue the maid who cleaned the room? You’re not stupid enough to think lawyers don’t go after the biggest pockets
are you sure they’re not reporting on what the lawyers already found and leaked to them?
or do you really believe NYT found this out on their own
Who knows how they found out? It’s for sure you and I don’t. Either way, “buzzfeed” or not, they were the first to report it.
And shame on the Texans. These teams have people on the payroll that provide legitimate massage and stretching sessions, if he wasn’t content with a legit employee doing it at the work site they should’ve told him he was on his own. Providing the venue and a stack of NDAs says they obviously knew, but proving it is the hard part.
I bet there are tons of nfl players who have their teams write up proper NDA’s for them, like want to go to the club with (x) player, gotta sign an NDA first, I think watson is a scumbag, but this is circumstantial and a distraction from the real case, how is buzbee goin to prove people in the Texans organization knew what was happening? I would be interested to hear if any of these accusers told them, then I would think he has a chance to get the Texans involved money wise, but if your giving massages off Instagram I don’t think you can out lawyer the Texans
Yeah. Players asking for ndas isn’t the gotcha many people think it is.
It’d be one thing if the Texans were having women sign these on behalf of deshaun but sounds more like deshaun asked for a legal nda and printed as many as he needed when he needed them.
Which from what I’ve seen from click2houston deshaun could have just downloaded an nda himself off the internet. You can Google free nda form and millions pop up.
link to legaltemplates.net
If ppl want to see the nda
link to click2houston.com
This is going to make the neighborhood cookouts a little uncomfortable. Apparently Buzzbee lives 2 houses away from McNair
If they get the right jury, Buzbee might own both houses and be able to buy the one in between, too.
If Buzzbee were really concerned, he’d donate his share to a woman’s crisis shelter. You’re not trying to say that these people are in it for the money?
The neighborhood they live in – 2 houses down is like a half mile away
One of them still has to pass the others house everyday.
Unless they are going to the country club that isn’t correct. According to the map, they would probably each take a different side street to get to where they are going.
66 masseuses in 18 months. Seems to imply he needed to find a new masseuse after nearly every “happy ending”.
I once had 30 dates in 45 days trying to forget about an ex girlfriend. Maybe he was doing the same thing. I only had a few happy endings
Standing outside the facility in Berea and offering your services to the Browns players is not considered a date.
If at least 11 or 12 of these “dates” later accused you of sexual assault, then it would be kind of the “same thing”.
Did a basketball team or two full of women later accuse you of sexual assault?
If not, maybe not quite the “same thing”.
Maybe he needs to be investigated next?
Right after you get a couple of your friends to fluff this pervert on gameday.
Somebody’s got some explaining to do. Looks like the Texans and the NFL are going to have as much jazz on their faces as those women before this thing concludes….
Given that the Texans were setting up these sessions and providing the facility, somebody in the Houston PD should be investigating whether the Texans were in reality running a prostitution ring – and likely not just for Watson.
Rusty represented Roger Clemens back in the day!
Good thing he’s a Christian.