Even though Deshaun Watson had made it clear to the Houston Texans that he had no plans of staying, several teams around the NFL were hesitant to pursue him due to the legal situation he was going through.
Besides the prospect of being put on paid leave, Watson faced the possibility of a big suspension once he was cleared back to play. And, albeit he won’t face criminal charges, that possibility hasn’t gone away.
Shortly after the grand jury made its decision, Watson was finally let go and joined the Cleveland Browns. Nonetheless, he might be forced to watch from the sidelines as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently talked about a potential suspension.
NFL News: Roger Goodell Says The League Could Suspend Watson
“The civil cases were in play over the last year,” the Commissioner said. “The only thing that’s changed is the criminal element has been at least resolved, and that was an important element in the context of the Commissioner Exempt List as discussed with the Players Association.”
“If the criminal had proceeded, that more than likely would have triggered the Commissioner Exempt,” Goodell continued. “I think at this point, the civil case in and of itself would not do that. If there’s a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy, that may trigger something, but that more than likely trigger some kind of discipline in some fashion.”
There’s No Timetable For A Potential Decision
When asked about a timeframe for a decision or how strict the penalty could be, the Commissioner didn’t want to get into any details. However, we should learn more about the process as the days go by:
“Our people are working on it,” Goodell said. “Obviously, these are serious charges. We’re looking at this seriously. We now have obviously, at least on the criminal side of it, obviously there are still civil charges that are going on, so our investigators hopefully will have access to more information and that will be helpful obviously at getting to the conclusion of what are the facts and was there a violation of the Personal Conduct Policy, but that determination will be made by a joint discipline officer established by the NFLPA and the NFL. She will make that decision when the facts are all in and we’ll see. There’s no timeframe on that.”
For what it’s worth and for some context, Ben Roethlisberger served a four-game suspension (it was originally set to six games) after facing rape allegations in 2010, while Ezekiel Elliott was handed a six-game penalty for alleged domestic abuse.