In the late hours of Friday afternoon, the NFL quietly announced it was ending its investigation into the most recent allegations of sexual assault against Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson was named in a lawsuit filed in Harris County (Texas) in September that accused him of sexual assault and battery in October 2020 while he was still playing for the Houston Texans. Watson denied the allegations, and the league promised to examine the case under the NFL's personal conduct policy.
"The matter is closed," a league spokesman said in an email to the Associated Press. "There was insufficient evidence to support a finding of a violation of the personal conduct policy."
This is the second time the league looked into allegations of sexual misconduct against Watson. He was previously suspended 11 games in 2022 and fined $5 million for violating the personal conduct policy after more than two dozen lawsuits were filed, alleging sexual assault connected to massage therapy sessions. Twenty-three of the lawsuits were settled, while another was withdrawn.
According to the September lawsuit, Watson was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at her apartment before the two were set to have dinner in 2020. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe in court filings, was represented by Tony Buzbee, the attorney who represented almost all of the women who previously filed similar suits against Watson. However, one month after the lawsuit was filed, Buzbee told ESPN that his client had reached an undisclosed settlement in the case.
According to The Washington Post, the NFL attempted to interview the woman behind the latest lawsuit, but Buzbee told the Post that "[w]e don't meet with the NFL. We settled the case. We have nothing else to say about it."
The Browns also declined to comment to the Post. No one has much to say about it, and in the absence of any outside adjudication, it seems likely the NFL and the Browns are content to see Watson otherwise vanish. He was last seen in tears being towed off the field on the injury cart after rupturing his Achilles tendon against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20.
Watson only appeared in six games in 2023 before a season-ending shoulder injury, this year he was the league's worst quarterback when his season was ended in yet another injury. The NFL is not often the place to look for anything resembling consequences, but in this case, the Browns have a pain box of their own making, thanks to a quarterback they believed would be the face of the franchise. Cleveland has two more seasons remaining on Watson's guaranteed $230 million contract, and at the moment is stuck riding out the Jameis Winston experience.
