The Saga of Deshaun Watson

[Heismanberg]

Watson's agent

Financial gain?  Aren't they asking for the bare minimum? 

[MBGreen]

Financial gain?  Aren't they asking for the bare minimum? 

no idea.

All i know is...his agent turned off responses to his tweet.  So we'll never know.

[Derek Smalls]

Well, if none of these things ever happened, it's hard to think of another motivation as to why they would make up these stories other than financial gain in some way, whether that's Watson paying them or the lawyer paying them. If Watson is truly innocent, what would the motivation be in these women making up allegations? And obviously the lawyer is going to argue he's innocent.

[reuben]

My new ill-informed guess is that Watson probably did some inappropriate excrement that would have otherwise been swept under the rug but Christian David Miscavige at the Texans is bankrolling these lawsuits for smear purposes. 

[bojanglesman]

My new ill-informed guess is that Watson probably did some inappropriate excrement that would have otherwise been swept under the rug but Christian David Miscavige at the Texans is bankrolling these lawsuits for smear purposes.

What do the Texans get out of it?  If he gets convicted, they can't keep him and also get nothing in a trade. 

[Derek Smalls]

What do the Texans get out of it?  If he gets convicted, they can't keep him and also get nothing in a trade. 

The satisfaction that Watson wasn't able to push them around and get what he wanted without consequence. But you're not wrong.

I don't like speculating on these things. There are a lot of sketchy things about the timing and the lawyer, and the text messages that were released didn't exactly reveal anything. But I also think women should feel comfortable exposing people when they deserve it, and when they decide to go public with it should be whenever they are comfortable.

It does complicate a trade. Obviously, if he's guilty, none of this should matter, and he shouldn't play. If he's innocent, it's a shame this is happening to smear his character. This might not get resolved for a while, so are the Texans just going to keep him through this? That doesn't seem realistic. Is a team going to trade for him during this? They might be able to get away with giving up less in a trade, but if Watson is guilty, then trading for him is a horrible idea, regardless of the cost.
https://twitter.com/AaronWilson_NFL/status/1372951462100238342

[reuben]

What do the Texans get out of it?  If he gets convicted, they can't keep him and also get nothing in a trade. 

From what I've been able to glean from the situation, Jack Easterby is a vindictive, power-hungry dude who makes decisions based on what God tells him to do, not what is sensible or good for the Texans.  DeShaun Watson besmirched his name and that calls for a smitin'.

[Laxin]

https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/m8jjf2/full_texts_of_the_4th_5th_6th_and_7th_lawsuits/

Just read the TLDR someone commented... but yikes.

He's probably finished in the league. That 7th one...

[Derek Smalls]

Ugh. Man. I probably should have realized it would go down this path, but that is not good.

[Johnny English]

What do the Texans get out of it?  If he gets convicted, they can't keep him and also get nothing in a trade. 

Point of note: as far as I understand it these are all civil suits, so there is no "convicted". It's a lower burden of proof in civil court (preponderance of evidence rather than beyond reasonable of doubt) and as far as I'm aware the only penalty that can be levied is financial compensation. So it's not like he's going to be a felon and there will be anything tangible on which to base any suspension or disciplinary action.

[Heismanberg]

Robert Kraft's QB

[Heismanberg]

Point of note: as far as I understand it these are all civil suits, so there is no "convicted". It's a lower burden of proof in civil court (preponderance of evidence rather than beyond reasonable of doubt) and as far as I'm aware the only penalty that can be levied is financial compensation. So it's not like he's going to be a felon and there will be anything tangible on which to base any suspension or disciplinary action.

I mean this is a league that blackballed a player for kneeling during the anthem.

Lets hope they get this one right...for once. 

[Johnny English]

I mean this is a league that blackballed a player for kneeling during the anthem.

Lets hope they get this one right...for once. 

It's going to be really challenging for them. On the one hand you're absolutely right in what you said the other day about the world and the league being very different to how it was ten years ago when Roethlisberger was raping girls in bathrooms, but if Watson gets any kind of serious punishment then the narrative of the white QB getting four games for multiple rapes and the black QB getting more punishment for arguably less serious offenses is definitely going to be a thing.

[AlioTheFool]

It's going to be really challenging for them. On the one hand you're absolutely right in what you said the other day about the world and the league being very different to how it was ten years ago when Roethlisberger was raping girls in bathrooms, but if Watson gets any kind of serious punishment then the narrative of the white QB getting four games for multiple rapes and the black QB getting more punishment for arguably less serious offenses is definitely going to be a thing.

The conduct policy might get him. It leaves a lot open to the commissioner. Relevant is on page 5:

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.

https://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/photo/2017/08/11/0ap3000000828506.pdf

[SixFeetDeep]

https://twitter.com/aaronwilson_nfl/status/1372996061447458816?s=21

Ok maybe he did it