Editor’s Note: The following story deals with sexual assault, and may be distressing for some readers.
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The NFL and Deshaun Watson have agreed to a settlement that will see the Cleveland Browns quarterback suspended 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, according to multiple reports.
The punishment — which comes following accusations of sexual misconduct made against Watson by 24 women in Texas — comes after the league appealed an earlier six-game suspension handed down by Sue L. Robinson, a former federal judge, earlier this month.
Watson is now scheduled to make his season debut on Dec. 4 in Houston against his former team, the Texans.
Watson, who played four seasons with the Texans before sitting out last season and then being traded to Cleveland in March, recently settled 23 of 24 lawsuits filed by the women who alleged sexual harassment or assault during massage treatments in 2020 and 2021. Two grand juries in Texas declined to indict Watson on criminal complaints brought by 10 of the women.
Robinson concluded that Watson violated three provisions of the personal conduct policy: sexual assault; conduct posing a genuine danger to the safety and well-being of another person; and conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL.
In her 16-page report, Robinson described Watson’s behaviour as “more egregious than any before reviewed by the NFL.”
The league announced they would appeal the six-game suspension on Aug. 3. Peter C. Harvey, a former New Jersey Attorney General and member of the NFL’s Diversity Advisory Committee, was appointed by Commissioner Roger Goodell to handle the appeal.
According to the league’s personal conduct policy, the “decision of the Commissioner or his designee, which may overturn, reduce, modify or increase the discipline previously issued, will be final and binding on all parties.”
-With files from the Associated Press
