USA TODAY sports
Last Friday, in the wake of a resolution to Deshaun Watson’s disciplinary case, the Browns quarterback apologized for the first time to the women “affected” by his behavior. Immediately after the situation was resolved on Thursday, Watson issued a statement accepting responsibility for his decisions.
Then he basically said, “Psych!”
Like a criminal defendant who signs a plea agreement before announcing he didn’t, Watson insisted he was innocent during an ill-advised press conference. His agent, David Mulugheta, tweeted after deleting a tweet challenging Judge Sue L. Robinson’s ruling that Watson had not appealed and tweeted that Watson did always said that he is innocent.
Judge Robinson did not find that. In the ruling that the NFLPA asked the NFL to adopt, it found that Watson had violated the Personal Conduct Policy in three separate ways by committing four counts of nonviolent sexual assault. She felt his behavior was “outrageous” and “predatory.” And now, after agreeing to a deal that added five games to their punishment and added a $5 million fine, Watson and Mulugheta have backed down to the long-held insistence that Watson did nothing wrong.
The league has not yet responded to an email from PFT asking the simple question of whether Watson’s comments constituted a violation of the terms of the settlement. He may not have breached the deal yet, but the “I didn’t do it” attitude doesn’t bode well for a certain aspect of the deal’s terms.
As ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter noted, as part of a self-contradictory stream of tweets and retweets that both carry water for Watson and pour it on his head, “Watson must comply With [evaluation] and treatment recommendations from an external behavioral expert who is to be reinstated’, and his ‘reinstatement is conditional on his compliance with the treatment plan’.
“If he doesn’t comply, his reinstatement could be delayed, plus further disciplinary action,” says Schefter.
Evaluation and treatment should include open, direct questions to Watson about whether he genuinely accepts responsibility for his behavior. Whether he acknowledges his involvement in non-violent sexual assault. Judge Robinson found his “categorical denial” to be untrue. She also found that his claim that he never got an erection during a massage was dead wrong, as several massage therapists who vouched for him admitted that he became aroused during the massages they offered him.
Therefore, we shouldn’t assume that Watson will automatically be back in Houston by Week 13. If/when the person examining and/or treating him plays the video from today’s press conference and Watson does not have a convincing explanation for his decision to maintain his innocence, it is possible that Watson will not receive appropriate certification to return and play .
It’s not some small problem. As Schefter noted, the league viewed Watson’s apology last Friday as “important first step.” Today he took three steps back.
Our guess? If he doesn’t make a clear and unequivocal public statement before Week 13, there’s a chance he won’t play for the Browns when they visit the Texans.