Cleveland Brown's quarterback lawsuits create uncertainty for season and fanbase
Cleveland & Mahoning Valley - Love him or hate him, Deshaun Watson is coming to Cleveland.
The NFL quarterback is facing 22 civil lawsuits by women alleging sexual misconduct.
As of earlier this month, Watson no longer faces criminal charges. A Houston grand jury decided not to indict him for sexual assault and misconduct allegations, but he still faces the lawsuits.
"While he won't be charged criminally, there are ongoing civil litigation cases that he is facing and he also faces potential punishment from the NFL," 3News Cleveland sports journalist Ben Axelrod said, "So I think for a lot of Browns fans, it's definitely mixed feelings because on one hand you have a franchise quarterback and on the other hand, he does come with a lot of baggage."
On Sunday, the Browns acknowledged Watson's ongoing litigation and said they will "respect due process" and "spent a tremendous amount of time investigating the opportunity," but are "aware and empathetic" towards fans' concerns.
"They've weighed the risk and benefits of this deal both on the field and off," Mahoning Valley Attorney Brian Kopp said, "They've made a decision that they can move forward with him so there's obviously some information that maybe the general public's not aware of."
Axelrod said it's a complicated trade for the Browns, one that a lot of fans and activists may not come to terms with.
"I think about training camp in Berea... There's going to be people protesting at training camp," he said, "There's going to be people protesting I'm sure at the home opener, so this is not something that is going to go away."
The NFL has the ability to suspend a player even if they aren't criminally charged, and Axelrod said NFL history shows there's a good chance Watson will start the season off the field.
"I do think so just based on what we've seen in the league in similar circumstances. It could be as little as two games, it could be as many as eight games, and if it is eight games, that's almost half the Browns' season," he said, "The NFL is probably going to make a decision based on its own investigation, which it did acknowledge it's doing last week into what they find and whether or not they suspend Deshaun Watson."
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center received one thousand donations 24 hours after the Watson trade was announced.
