Clint Lamb
Videos by OutKick
The situation with star NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson continues to grow. At this point, it seems like new lawsuits are being filed daily against the Houston Texan, and that has some, including OutKick founder Clay Travis, questioning his future.
Folks, things aren’t looking good for the 25-year-old quarterback. Nothing has been proven at this point, but 13 different women have now accused Watson of sexual assault, and 14 lawsuits total have been brought against him.
Those are significant — and alarming — numbers.
Regardless of whether these accusations are valid, it’s time to start thinking about how they will impact Watson’s status in the league. Clay isn’t confident that Watson will be available for the entire 2021 season. In fact, he puts the chances of that happening at “virtually zero.”
“I would put the chances of Deshaun Watson playing a full season of football anywhere in 2021 at virtually zero,” Clay said during OutKick the Coverage. “And I think it’s possible that Deshaun Watson may not play football again for years. It’s even possible that Deshaun Watson’s football career could be over.”
Well, that’s a depressing thought, but it’s also realistic. The number of civil and/or criminal charges Watson may face is unlike anything we’ve seen from a star athlete at the peak of his career.
“I don’t know that we’ve ever seen a player as good as Deshaun Watson facing criminal charges potentially and at a minimum, 14 sexual assault charges in a civil context,” Clay said. “I can’t remember a player who was as good as Deshaun Watson ever facing this many serious charges.
“Now, Ray Lewis had a double murder charge. Obviously that was massive at the height of his career. But most of the athletes that have gotten in trouble, by and large, none of them have had this many different accusers that are involved as Deshaun Watson does right now. And none of them have been at the apex of their athletic ability, and certainly none of them have been a quarterback who had just signed a $160 million extension like Deshaun Watson.”
Now, this is all a worst-case scenario for Watson, and Clay explains why he thinks such a worst-case scenario will likely keep Watson from playing the entire 2021 season:
“If he were able to somehow avoid any significant punishment or liability finding, both criminally and civilly, he would still have to deal with the investigation that the NFL has now brought to bear, which is also massively important in terms of his ability to take the field,” Clay pointed out.
“And the NFL personal conduct policy doesn’t require that he be innocent. It also doesn’t require that he be not guilty. The mere perception of issues could be enough to require a suspension, which is what we all saw with a guy like Ezekiel Elliott a couple years ago.”
Clay does a great job going through various possibilities and how each could impact Watson’s ability to play this season. He provides a great in-depth analysis about where things could be heading for Watson, so you should definitely check out the podcast as soon as it comes out later today.
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
Yeah regardless of ultimate outcome this is disastrous for Watson. With the volume of awful accusations coming in hitting the media this is going to destroy his career even if he’s found not guilty. There will always be the taint of sexual impropriety no matter what the outcome now. I don’t think we will ever see Watson play another NFL game after this. You would think if he was a serial abuser word would’ve gotten around to the massage therapist community right? We’re talking 20+ women experiencing the same thing? You would think somebody knew somebody and would say something, right? Women talking to women in the same field? I’m sure female massage therapists have had guys pull this stuff before, and they’d be warning others if so. This is 2021, the Me2 era, right? Why’d it take so long? That’s the part that raises my suspicion.
Completely agree. The playing field has been flooded.
Yup…this will rank up there with Ray Lewis and Ray Rice.
That said we know there are some predatory NFL players out there…but I’ve never seen that many allegations come out (Ben R.had what…2?)
I’m taking the contrarian view. A few cases…perhaps something happened. 15+ cases suggests it is an orchestrated takedown by a shady lawyer and money hungry clients. This will become clear in time, and the story will fade. The lawyer will be the one with a price to pay. I also expect Watson to play in 2021…though likely miss some games.
interesting point. does this mean that Kobe Bryant was declared innocent for his actions in Denver 20 years ago? he paid a civil settlement and criminal charges were dropped.
maybe the large number of plaintiffs against Watson will prevent the state from ignoring charges.
see how this works? doesn’t mean he is guilty, but one could argue that what Kobe did was worse.
The whole Kobe thing I’m still skeptical about…the gal had two other men’s DNA on her. I think it was one of those he picked the wrong groupie to mess around with. Basically these athletes are a target for groupies and the groupies know what it takes to get what they want…either by pregnacy or consensual fornication they can turn into rape after the fact.
Going on what John Melton mentioned here…you would think that, with as many massage therapists coming out now that at least a few of them would’ve mentioned what Watson is being accused of. The problem for Watson could be that, if he did do these things, he most likely paid these women under the table to keep it on the down low. He wouldn’t have any proof if he paid cash for happy endings or any indiscretion he may have done. He still is innocent until proven guilty, but the higher the number of women coming forward, it might be hard to believe every single one is lying. We shall see.
pretty sure there are ways to confirm Watsons visits and perhaps like strip clubs, they have velvet lounge treatment.
whats crazy is that W has been elevated to Saint Status for 6 months for complaining about everything while signing a mega $$ deal.
thats sociopathic behavior. i’ve become a bit of an expert on how these snakes operate.
Good points Chris_Redskins
Yep. Four months after sobbing in front of the press about how happy he was to be signing he was on the verge of sitting out? Did things change that quickly in the organization? The pieces don’t fit.
Maybe he was catching a vibe legal trouble was coming and demanding a trade would get him away from it. This is totally illogical but humans aren’t always logical, especially when they are desperate.
LOL he ain’t playing maybe in genpop but not in the national felon league
He was finding them on Instagram and flying some of them in from out of town. Curious to see if they were all attractive women. If so, I think we can say that he was targeting a certain profile. How many people looking for a good massage resort to Instagram models and feel the need to fly them into town if you aren’t looking for more than a massage? Open your eyes to common sense.
What about Michael Vick and his off-field “issues” ???
A high-profile QB at the height of his career being taken down by accusations of misbehavior ????
Could you imagine if some team had given up 3 1st rounders and a couple of starters for him or more?