A Brief History
On August 1, 2022, NFL and especially Cleveland Browns football fans finally got the long-awaited verdict in the case of quarterback Deshaun Watson, accused by more than 2 dozen women of various levels of sexual harassment while receiving massages.
Digging Deeper
Watson was a member of the Houston Texans when the allegations surfaced, causing him to sit out the entire 2021 season, though with pay. In 2022 the Texans traded Watson to the Browns who made the young quarterback the highest paid player in NFL history despite the sexual misconduct allegations not being settled at the time.
Watson faced potential punishment by the NFL, some speculating a season long suspension or even a lifetime ban, while others theorized that he would receive but a slap on the wrist. Opinions as to appropriate action by the league varied wildly. The NFL conducted a lengthy investigation of the complaints against Watson, and today a decision was announced by arbitrator and former judge Sue Robinson that Watson would be suspended for the first 6 games of the 2022 season. Watson is reportedly not going to appeal the ruling and it is unknown yet if the NFL will appeal. (The NFL and Watson both have 3 days to file an appeal, though Watson’s attorney has promised not to do so.)
We ask you, our valued viewers, is a 6 game suspension justified in this case, or should the punishment been more or less severe?
Question for students (and subscribers): Should non-criminally charged allegations of misconduct be punished by the NFL? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Carter, Jackson. Deshaun Watson: Deshaun Watson’s Inspiring Path to Become One of the NFL’s Top Quarterbacks. Independently published, 2020.
Watson, Deshaun. Pass It On: Work Hard, Serve Others . . . Repeat. Thomas Nelson , 2020.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA of Texans at Redskins, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
