If you ignore that these were all masseuses. That isn't how many girls he dated. That's not even the same conversation as this. He and the Texans came up with non-disclosures. These women thought they were being hired for legitimate non sexual reasons, and at least two say they were ejaculated on unwillingly. Many said they were groped, had hands pushed into his *** for "internal massage" and worse. The NFLs independent arbitrator found that with the cases she looked at, this most likely happened. And, we have people trying to compare his actions to rock stars with groupies. I have to go back to avoiding these threads. I lose too much respect for posters.
What the heck does that mean- he was offered a deal? That's not how suspensions are supposed to work...
In my world, I think, "What if that was my kid, how would I react?" My daughter's 21 now and married, but our kids will always be our kids. And I'm telling you right now, I'd earn myself a jail sentence from something like that. I'm saying that calmly and rational- no part of me can accept that any of that is okay. Being rich or a celebrity only makes it worse, in my opinion, because they should no longer be rich or a celebrity.
What about the argument that what Rock Stars do with their young groupies while not as predatory as Watson is still predatory and should be frowned upon in a decent society?
I don't care what consenting adults consent to. Consent is such a clear line that I don't see how you can compare the two. I am not concerned about societal decency here. Lets make consent more blurred though. Fame is the not the same as someone using the authority of a job position to pressure sex. Fame is the same as any other reason to hold attraction. What if a really hot/famous girl wants to have sex with me and I do because of how much I like her hotness/fame even though if she wasn't so hot/famous I wouldn't have. vs What if my boss wats to have sex with me and I do because I fear the possibility what her authority could do to me and wouldn't have if she didn't hold it. I still think the difference is stark. Substitute any other positive attraction reason for "Hotness or Fame", or any power to impact one negatively for "Boss or authority". I think you understand my point. Fear vs attraction. If fear is your kink/attraction, then all bets are off, and I can only hope you stay safe.
Okay, that makes sense now- so it was pretty much like a plea bargain offer before the verdict came out. But what doesn't make sense is that the league is appealing it after the attorney imposed the maximum possible penalty she was allowed to give. This is all sort of a dog and pony show, to be honest. I wish Goodell would just be a man and suspend Watson for a year.
This sort of refutes the post Galant just made- sounds like Goodell isn't having it. After watching that segment, this whole thing makes sense now. The special arbitrator makes a ruling, hands down a suspension/penalty, and then either the NFL or the NFLPA can appeal that ruling. After either side appeals, the suspension in final. So what Goodell essentially did was, he eliminated the possibility for anyone to appeal his decision by letting someone else go first and pass down a penalty that the NFLPA would be good with. The NFLPA thought, "Six games? That's it? We're good with that!" Then Goodell came down with the real verdict- he's out this entire season for what he did to the four women the league interviewed. However, there's still 21 more to potentially talk to, meaning Watson could end up being suspended even longer. Who knows- maybe he never plays again. Maybe the Browns threw away a $45M dollar signing bonus for the shady contract they created for this season. All I can say is, kudos to Goodell for playing the system and landing on the right side of this. And thank God it's the Browns and not us.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...son-quarterback-preseason-opener-jacksonville " BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is expected to start Friday's preseason opener against the Jaguars. The team made the announcement Wednesday just before boarding a flight to Jacksonville, Florida. Watson and the Browns are waiting to see whether he will be suspended longer than the six-game suspension he was handed for violating the personal conduct policy by disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson last week." "On Tuesday, Goodell told reporters that the league is seeking a season-long suspension because the quarterback's actions were "egregious" and "predatory behavior," as Robinson noted in her 16-page report." "Goodell said he didn't know when Harvey would make a ruling, though the CBA calls for the appeals process to be "expedited."" "To this point in training camp, Watson has continued to get the overwhelming majority of the first-team snaps in practice over backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Coach Kevin Stefanski has not been specific about when Brissett could get more first-team reps, saying only that the Browns have a plan. "I am confident in our plan," Stefanski said. "Obviously, we will adjust based on information. I am comfortable in what Jacoby has done to date with his reps. He has gotten a lot of them. He has gotten some with the ones and some with the twos, and we will stick to our plan absent any new information."" Can you imagine if Ross had decided to go for Watson.....? We'd be facing tampering fines for Brady and Payton, we would have a QB who couldn't play, and who knows, maybe even traded Tua away... The NFL folks.
I'm not sure what would be more fitting at this point, Watson gets suspended for way more than the year being speculated and the Browns look even more incompetent for handing him such a good contract. Or the NFL bottles the decision, keeps the six game suspension but when Watson does return his 18 months of not playing has taken its toll on him and he's not the same player from a few years ago meaning that the Browns are on the hook for his whole contract but for a subpar player.
That would be almost unthinkable- having draft picks stripped, an owner that might be removed, plus a star quarterback/sexual predator that may never actually get to play. We would own the news cycles all season long. Just so glad it didn't happen- I really believe we landed on the right coach and the right quarterback for 2022.
We'd probably be without picks for awhile since Watson would've required multiple and then the tampering would've taken even more.
We were thiiiiiiiis close, guys, to utter franchise dismemberment and destruction. The poor Browns fans...
Hard to disagree with this statement. Wonder if the team would've sold out of season tickets if we Watson at QB but none of the FA signings let alone Tyreek. I wonder who the head coach would've been.
I can’t agree with this. The difference between the Browns/Watson gaming the system and Goodell gaming the system is that Goodell writes and enforces the rules. Having the commissioner obviate the rules to get an outcome he desires means that the rules are worthless. It’s low rent tin pot dictator behavior. If the rules are that Watson’s behavior has a maximum of a 6 game suspension then the person who is at fault for that is Goodell. The league has a long history of players getting up to bad stuff off the field up to and including murder that for various reasons were not prosecuted by the police. Yet Goodell agreed to a CBA that limits the suspension to 6 games.
The judge didn't decide that the rules mean its a maximum of 6 games but that precedent of other suspensions mean it should be 6 games. Which isn't really the same thing. So the only way to change the precedent is to do what he is doing and the league and the NFLPA gave him the power to do just that.
And her ruling of 6 games was more of an indictment of the NFL for not doing more in the past. Pretty much insulting them legally for not being more proactive in situations like these and only caring when they are embarrassed.
Yeah, I agree with what others said. The prosecutor wanted to suspend him for more than 6 games but wasn't allowed to. Or maybe she misunderstood, maybe she could have suspended him 6 games per incident (24 total since they interviewed 4 women). In either case, I'm glad Goodell is exceeding the stated punishment in this particular case. Because remember, there's 25 potential women he did this to that we know of....and we've heard that the total number may be greater than 60. No way you get 6 games for sexually assaulting 60 women just because the CBA says so. There is no precedent for what Watson did, so hopefully the bar is set extremely high to ensure it never happens again.
It would be intriguing if we were his first game especially if our defence is as advertised. Has anybody seen how Watson has performed in camp? It's been over a year since he's taken a competitive snap at this point and despite his talent, you'd have to imagine that the time has left some rust on him.
My first thought also. The sheer arrogance of this perv is astonishing, and (to me, at least) further evidence of guilt. As others have said, thank goodness this isn’t (another) Miami problem.
I forgot which thread this was for a second and thought you were talking about Zach Wilson and the Jets who it also could have applied to. I suppose you'd rather your QB look bad in week one of pre-season that week one of the regular season.
Good, we need a hammer drop! Hopefully they get this right and set the correct precedent for future players, coaches, and owners.
Ross banned from operations a year, fined millions, docked draft picks for talking to Brady and a HC. Maybe he should have felt them up instead.
Psycho might be a bit much. But, the best case scenario here is that this is an immature man who hasn't learned to take responsibility for his own actions nor understand the way his actions impact others. It seems, to me, to be a growing issue. He doesn't see what was wrong with what he did. He might be sorry the women felt upset but he doesn't understand what was wrong with his actions. Either that, or he's just lying.
Neither of which he was able to persuade to come to Miami, by the way. The punishment seems excessive since nothing actually happened, unlike in Watsons’s case.
PS. What are the odds Watson does something like this again (especially since he doesn’t feel like he did anything wrong)? I say even money.