Editorial

Deshaun Watson Will Start In Browns’s First Preseason Game Despite Suspension

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Seth Roy Contributor
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Deshaun Watson is expected to start at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the team’s first preseason game Friday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Earlier in August, Deshaun Watson was suspended six games for the upcoming NFL season by former federal judge, Sue L. Robinson. She found sufficient evidence that the three-time Pro Bowler acted in “sexualized conduct” during multiple massage therapy sessions as a member of the Houston Texans. She called his behavior in a 16-page report “more egregious than any before reviewed by the NFL.”

Robinson referenced on the fifth page of her findings the unsettling details about what was claimed during some of the massage sessions. She wrote “it is alleged that Mr. Watson exposed his erect penis and purposefully contacted the therapists’ hands and arms multiple times with his erect penis. One of the therapists alleges that Mr. Watson not only contacted her arm multiple times, but that he ejaculated on her arm.”

With these ugly allegations well documented, it is crazy that the Browns are still rolling Watson out on to the football field as the face of their franchise Friday night. (NFL To Appeal Deshaun Watson’s 6-Game Suspension)

On Tuesday, the commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell, said Watson acted with “predatory behavior,” and claimed that his actions were “egregious,” according to ESPN. The outlet says also that the league is looking to change the length of Watson’s suspension to being for a full year instead of just six games.

In four seasons in the NFL, Watson has thrown 104 touchdowns for 14,539 yards throughout his career. The previous season, the Texans elected to not play the troubled quarterback at all, in part, due to the plethora of sexual misconduct allegations.

Barring a sudden restriction, Deshaun Watson will play in his first NFL game since the 2020 season.