Even though Deshaun Watson is reportedly set to play next season, his legal turmoil is far from over. The Cleveland Browns‘ QB could still go to trial over the 22 civil lawsuits he’s facing, and the NFL could still suspend him.
The Browns decided to take a risk on him and pulled the trigger on a huge blockbuster trade, even though they still had Baker Mayfield on the roster. Then, they signed him to a massive extension.
Watson’s camp has been quite optimistic about the outcome. However, his lawyer Rusty Hardin recently admitted that he did engage in sexual activity with three of the 22 plaintiffs. Needless to say, that didn’t look good at all.
Watson’s Attorney Admits He Had Consensual Sexual Activity With 3 Massage Therapists
“And there are only three occasions in our cases that any type of sexual activity occurred.”
“As we’ve said, as Deshaun has insisted under oath, each of those three occasions were consensual and instituted by the women,”
“What little sexual activity did occur was consensual,” Hardin told Gabe Feldman. Hardin said. “But in the other19 cases there was no sexual activity. And Deshaun has already given nine depositions — 11 now — and sworn under oath that there was no sexual activity except those three incidents, and they were consensual.”
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What Does That Mean For His Case?
But rather than helping, this admission could only make things more complicated for the Clemson product. Per Mike Florio of PoFootballTalk, it makes Watson look as guilty as his accusers state
(Transcript via Mike Florio)
“The bulk of the cases against Watson arise from allegations that he tried to nudge things that way. The fact that, in three cases, sexual activity occurred necessarily adds credibility to the allegation that, in the other 19 cases, he at least attempted to move the massage in that direction.
Why would it make Watson’s lawyers mad? Because they know that if Watson can be painted as someone who had a habit of lining up massages on social media with strangers and hoping that he’d get something more than a massage, it meshes with the claims made by those who claim to have been traumatized by his affirmative effort to get something more than a massage.”
At the end of the day, we don’t know how this will end for Watson and his camp. But we can definitely be sure that this scandal won’t go away any time soon and it could affect his team throughout the whole season.
