Deshaun Watson has to pay whatever it takes to get on the field at some point in the 2022 season. (CBS Sports)
It’s not hard to arrive at the terms of settlement in the Deshaun Watson saga
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Wednesday came and went without a resolution to the Deshaun Watson saga, but reports persist that settlement talks are ongoing.
That is good news for the Browns.
A settlement between the NFL Players Association and the NFL means that Watson’s punishment for multiple violations of the personal conduct policy would be less than a full-year suspension. Which means he would see the field at some point in the 2022 season.
If talks bog down and an impasse results, Watson’s penalty would be left up to NFL appeals officer Peter C. Harvey.
That would not be good news for the Browns.
Harvey probably would lean to the punishment voiced by Commissioner Roger Goodell – an indefinite suspension with a minimum of one season.
So what’s it going to be?
It’s not hard to figure out if you’ve followed the case.
More than six games
Six games was the punishment recommended by Sue L. Robinson, the disciplinary officer jointly hired by the NFLPA and the NFL.
Robinson established the facts of the case against Watson. She concluded that Watson committed non-violent sexual assault against the four complainants she reviewed, his conduct posed a genuine danger to the safety and well-being of the four complainants, and “his predatory conduct cast a negative light on the league and its players.”
Robinson said the NFL precedent for non-violent sexual assault was three games suspension. She increased her penalty to six games because of aggravating factors – Watson’s lack of expressed remorse and his tardy notice to the NFL of the first lawsuit filed against him.
The NFL appealed this decision and recommended a penalty of indefinite suspension with a minimum of one season.
12 games and $8 million
Prior to Robinson’s decision, the NFL reportedly offered a settlement of 12 games suspension and an $8 million fine. Watson and his legal team rejected the offer.
Eight games and $5 million
After Robinson's report came out and Goodell argued for a one-year ban, the Associated Press reported that Watson’s legal team proposed an offer of eight games suspension and a $5 million fine. That offer rekindled settlement talks while Harvey continued to deliberate the NFL’s appeal.
Why settle?
Both sides have incentive to settle and not leave the decision up to Harvey, who might follow Goodell’s preference for an indefinite suspension with a minimum of one year.
Under a one-year ban, Watson would immediately be banished from the Browns’ premises and not be allowed to participate in team activities.
He would not be reinstated until meeting yet-to-be-specified terms. Further, his contract would “toll” to 2023, meaning he would be paid no salary in 2022 (though he would receive his $45 million signing bonus). The first year of his five-year contract would then kick in with the 2023 season. So he would have to wait until 2028 to qualify for free agency instead of 2027.
Essentially, he would lose one year of earning income and wait an extra year for free agency.
A one-year ban, however, may result in the NFLPA suing the league in federal court on the premise that the league has not penalized owners in similar fashion for violations of the personal conduct policy.
While the NFL eventually prevailed in similar federal suits involving Tom Brady and Ezekiel Elliott, the threat of the NFLPA pointing the microscope on past transgressions of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and Commanders owner Daniel Snyder would be embarrassing to the NFL, and possible to Goodell, and would prolong the Watson saga well into the 2022 season.
While the NFL wants to come down hard on Watson for unprecedented violations of the personal conduct policy, it does not want this story to continue to tarnish the 2022 season.
The solution
What’s the middle ground between Watson’s offer of eight games and $5 million and the NFL’s offer of 12 games and $8 million?
Mathematically, it’s 10 games suspension plus a $6.5 million fine.
Each of those terms individually would be the most severe penalty given any NFL player for a non-violent violation of the personal conduct policy. So the league easily could defend this punishment as the most severe in league history.
If the NFL wanted more blood, it is incumbent on Watson to do whatever it takes to avoid a year-long ban. If that requires upping his fine to $8 million or more, so be it. He owes it to the Browns to get back on the field in 2022 as soon as possible, no matter the personal monetary cost to him.
He is the one who should be disciplined -- not the Browns, his teammates, or their fans.
