Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson throws a move throughout follow on the crew’s coaching facility in May in Ohio. The NFL suspended Watson for six games on Monday for violating its private conduct coverage following accusations of sexual misconduct.
Ron Schwane/AP
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Ron Schwane/AP
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson throws a move throughout follow on the crew’s coaching facility in May in Ohio. The NFL suspended Watson for six games on Monday for violating its private conduct coverage following accusations of sexual misconduct.
Ron Schwane/AP
NFL disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson has ordered Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson to be suspended with out pay for six games, the league confirmed to NPR on Monday.
The punishment comes after 24 girls accused Watson of sexual misconduct, sparking civil lawsuits and placing the star quarterback on the sidelines in 2021. Watson settled 20 of the cases against him in June.
The six-game suspension is “the most significant punishment ever imposed on an NFL player for allegations of non-violent sexual conduct,” Robinson mentioned in her resolution, including that “Mr. Watson’s pattern of conduct is more egregious than any before reviewed by the NFL.”
Robinson discovered Watson accountable for “multiple violations of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy advised NPR by way of e-mail.
Specifically, she mentioned the NFL had confirmed that Watson engaged in: sexual assault (because the NFL’s insurance policies outline it); conduct that poses a hazard to a different individual; and conduct that undermines the integrity of the NFL.
The accusations in opposition to Watson got here from among the greater than 60 therapeutic massage therapists he labored with in a single 15-month interval, from late 2019 via the winter of 2021.
Robinson mentioned that in making appointments with therapeutic massage therapists, Watson “had a sexual purpose — not just a therapeutic purpose.”
“I find the evidence sufficient to demonstrate that Mr. Watson knew, or should have known, that any contact between his penis and these therapists was unwanted,” Robinson mentioned.
Earlier this yr, two grand juries in Texas declined to indict Watson on legal costs, clearing a path for his eventual return to the taking part in subject.
Watson has the proper to enchantment the choice inside three days, via the NFL Players Association. The league can even file its personal enchantment.
The NFL says it is “reviewing Judge Robinson’s imposition of a six-game suspension and will make a determination on next steps.”
Robinson is a former federal choose who started working with the NFL after retiring from the bench within the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
Describing the components she weighed in deciding Watson’s punishment, Robinson acknowledged that he had “an excellent reputation in his community prior to these events,” including that he cooperated within the investigation and paid restitution.
But, she mentioned, Watson — who has categorically denied doing something inappropriate through the therapeutic massage classes — has additionally not expressed regret. She additionally famous that he had not instantly knowledgeable the NFL when the primary lawsuit was filed in March of 2021.
As for the NFL star’s intentions earlier than and through the therapeutic massage classes, Robinson wrote, “Mr. Watson had a reckless disregard for the consequences of his conduct, which I find equivalent to intentional conduct.”
Watson was taking part in for the Houston Texans when the allegations in opposition to him arose. In March, he signed a five-year deal to turn out to be the Browns’ quarterback.