Deshaun Watson to Washington is a terrible idea
March 1, 2022
by Steve Thomas
Recently, I’ve noticed a sharp uptick of people who either think Washington should go ahead and trade for Deshaun Watson now or who pass off his getting cleared of the allegations against him as a mere formality. I can’t think of a more idiotic thing for Washington’s front office to than to trade for Watson. The Houston quarterback is in a heap of trouble thanks to allegations from slew of women in the Houston area. I wrote a column back in April, 2021, that reviewed the allegations in detail – if you need to know more, I recommend you read it (click here). The gist of the charges are that Watson contacted each woman to request massage services, then allegedly committed various degrees of inappropriate sexual conduct with them, ranging from alleged exposure, to masturbation to completion on multiple women, to physically forcing women into oral sexual conduct, and more.
In thinking back through the history of major American sports in the past several decades, I can’t think of any active athlete who’s had this many allegations of sexual misconduct, or for that matter, any type of misconduct, leveled against him. Even former NFL safety Darren Sharper, who’s rotting in jail as a result of a slew of rape convictions across several states and in Federal court, was accused after his career ended. No, in many ways, Watson stands alone.
I recently re-reviewed all of Watson’s civil case files, and the parties are currently in the early stages of discovery; meaning, there’s a long way to go absent either dismissals or settlements. It’s very unlikely that, if deposed, Watson will say anything of substance beyond asserting his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination unless the criminal charges are resolved. A show of hands, please, of the people reading this column twho think that Watson is going to get the Harris County, Texas, district courts to dismiss all 22 lawsuits before trial. Now let’s have another show of hands for those of you who think going to trial either separate 22 times or having one massive trial with 22 plaintiffs who, one after another, tell ugly stories about Watson, would be a good idea for him. And, news flash: he can be called to testify in a civil case, unlike in a criminal case, and his only way to avoid disaster would be to again assert his fifth amendment rights.
No, I think his only real way out of the civil lawsuits is to settle at least most of them, but that has no bearing on his criminal investigations. It’s reasonable to think that some number of these cases could be dismissed, but all or even most of them? No. Don’t underestimate the level of attorney representing the plaintiffs. He’s a major name in the Houston area.
Very little has been reported regarding the status of the criminal investigations. My guess is that he hasn’t been indicted yet because the police are having trouble finding enough evidence to meet the criminal standard of proof, which is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. The problem with these cases – like many sexual misconduct allegations – is that they sometimes don’t have much physical evidence and boil down to a he said / she said contest, and while that may be enough for a jury in civil court, it usually isn’t in criminal court. This doesn’t mean that the district attorney and/or the police think that Watson “didn’t do it”. It means that criminal cases are hard to prove and it’s taking awhile.
I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed in the attitudes of some in the Redskins Commanders Washington fanbase. Some folks seem to hold an assumption that Watson’s accusers are simply gold-diggers or prostitutes, with Watson being the victim. What era are you guys from, anyway? It’s irresponsible and unfair to hold those beliefs at this juncture, just as it’s also irresponsible and unfair to assume Watson’s guilt. The kind of attitude that some of you hold is what breeds things like the #Metoo movement. It isn’t helpful or fair to the women. In my view, the proper way to look at this situation is to take the accusations seriously and wait for them to play out in both civil and criminal court. Plus, as I said above, the attorneys involved on both sides are highly respected Texas litigators, and neither one wants to be embarrassed by either claims from bogus plaintiffs or a substandard defense. These are serious cases, and if you believe otherwise, you’re wrong.
More to the point here, though, as everyone knows, Washington’s front office, specifically owner Daniel Snyder, is in the midst of yet another scandal. We’ve had a series of scandals here over the past 25 years, but the latest and most important one is the ongoing sexual misconduct allegations. Even if Snyder and the team somehow emerge unscathed from the drama – a result that seems increasingly unlikely – I can’t think of a worse idea to follow that than to bring in a guy like Watson to be the face of the franchise. Imagine: the team hypothetically moving into a new era, having dumped the wonderful, historic name “Redskins” in favor of some idiotic new, bland, politically correct name, with a new team president, new female senior vice president of media, and strong head coach. So what would they be doing next by trading for Watson? Spending a huge amount of draft capital to bring in a guy accused of mistreating 22 women. There’s probably no team in the NFL that needs that sort of attention less than Washington. Frankly, the odds of all 22 of Watson’s accusers either (1) recanting their allegations, or (2) being proven in a court of law as having lied about their entire story, is slim. Most likely, Watson will be dogged by these accusations in some way, shape, or form for the rest of his career even if he does escape serious criminal changes. The odds of Watson being completely cleared are long, and “long” is about to hop on a bus out of town.
Does Washington need this kind of attention? No. Bringing a guy dogged by sexual misconduct claims isn’t exactly going to help the team move forward. There’s no doubt that Watson is otherwise everything the team needs: he’s a young, game-changing, franchise-level quarterback, one that the team hasn’t seen in a generation. But there’s no point in the franchise trying to move forward from the hell brought to bear by Dan Snyder and his cronies if all they do is turn over the “face of the franchise” role to someone else accused of mistreating a slew of women. Sometimes things are more important than on the field performance; there’s a difference between smart moves for a franchise, and moves that are hyper-focused on in-game performance. And that’s to say nothing about the possibility of an NFL suspension for Watson, which still looms large.
Don’t do it, Washington.