Deshaun Watson has settled 20 out of the 24 civil suits that were filed against him, but he isn’t out of the woods yet.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback has been the subject of nonstop controversy over the past year ever since it came that he had visited at least 66 women for massages over a 17-month period.
More than a third of that group would go on to accuse him of inappropriate behavior during sessions.
Ever since the claims were originally made, very little of what has come out has been good news for Watson. Most of it has consistently just made him look worse and worse. Until this week.
According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, one woman’s claims about Watson were recently undermined by her own son.
“I’m told there’s a recording of an interview with the adult son of 1 of 12 women the NFL interviewed in the Deshaun Watson case — stating his mom initially was complimentary of Watson in their conversations after the massage, but later switched her account and tone after negative allegations surfaced about Watson,” she wrote.
“The son intimated his mother intended to reward his silence, per league source. There’s a feeling that the NFL was initially cagey about details they learned from the woman’s son — after only mentioning they interviewed him in their report.
“The son’s recording was later reviewed by Watson’s side revealing the aforementioned details — presumably illuminating why this particular accuser was not included with the 5 women the NFL ultimately focused on at the hearing.
“I was also told the NFL presented no evidence of violence, force, threat or coercion in the allegations of the 5 women they focused on at the hearing before Sue Robinson.”
Yikes.
When you account for all the leaked disturbing private DMs and extremely embarrassing text messages that explain his odd reported sexual preferences, it feels like all the information that has come out over the past year has worked against Watson. This is a noticeable shift.
It will be interesting to see what will come out next.
There has been a lot of talk about the NFL reversing the Houston Texans-Browns trade for Watson because of the extenuating circumstances involved. So much so that the Texans had come to out and address it.
There has also been a lot of scrutiny of previously un-criticized Watson behavior – like his viral video with adult film star Mia Khalifa.
Russell Wilson is in some kinda shape. https://t.co/sQDPsk6wnC
— Game 7 (@game7__) July 7, 2022
And understandably so.
But with these new details bubbling up to the surface, it will be fascinating to see if this marks a changing of the tide for Watson. Will the details that come out from this point forward do more to exonerate him than incriminate him?
Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
