In a move that shocked the sports realm, Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee filed a lawsuit against city’s superstar quarterback Deshaun Watson on March 16, 2021. On his Instagram page, he alleged that Watson had assaulted four of his former massage therapists. By April 5, that number grew to 22 separate civil lawsuits with claims of sexual misconduct, indecent exposure, and sexual assault.

A year later, on March 11, NFL Insider Adam Schefter broke the news that former Houston Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson would not face criminal charges. The news caused both a cascade of support and disappointment across social media and sports talk shows.

There were those who believed that, since there was not enough evidence to convict Watson, then he should be completely exonerated and allowed to return to the NFL. 

Others, however, pointed out that in cases involving sexual assault, an overwhelming amount of them do not result in conviction or incarceration. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), out of every 1,00 sexual assaults, about 975 perpetrators will walk free.

Shannon Sharpe, Hall of Fame tight end and co-host of the popular show Undisputed, had this to say about Watson’s legal situation.

“I’m not saying he’s guilty, I’m not saying he’s innocent. I’m saying, let the facts play out. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty. That’s no longer the case. It’s guilty until proven innocent, and that’s a place I don’t want to be.”

Hampton student and Philadelphia Eagles fan Justin Guy had a similar view to Sharpe’s:

“He should be able to play since he was proven innocent of all of the criminal charges. I hope that he isn’t forced to pay the women in the civil suits since there isn’t any evidence that proves he did the crimes.”

After the initial report about Watson not facing criminal charges, a race to acquire the quarterback quickly ensued. Before the first accusation last year, the Texans’ quarterback had requested a trade after years of losing and mismanagement. The Houston organization decided to hold off on trading him this season due to the legal situation.

Of the teams vying for the star player, the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints finished as his top choices. Due to a no-trade clause, Watson had the ability to pick his destination. Though he originally declined the Browns, Watson made a stunning turnaround and agreed to a five-year, $230 million offer to go to Cleveland, according to Adam Schefter.

Deals in the National Football League are usually structured so that a player is guaranteed a certain amount of money up front, but they have to earn the other portion of it. For example, superstar wide receiver Davante Adams signed a five-year, $141.25 million contract with the Raiders, but only the first $67.5 million of it is guaranteed.

Watson’s contract is interesting because all of the money is guaranteed, and although he is not the highest paid player in NFL history, his contract has the most guaranteed money in the league’s history.

The Browns also structured his contract so that he receives a $45 million signing bonus, but in the first year of his deal, his base salary is only $1 million. This way, should Watson get suspended by the NFL, he loses much less money for the games missed.

On March 20, two days after the trade, the Browns released a statement on their Twitter page, asserting that their “comprehensive evaluation process was of utmost importance due to the sensitive nature of his situation and the complex factors involved.”

In response, Tony Buzbee told John Barr of ESPN that no NFL teams reached out to him or his clients during their “comprehensive evaluation process.”

The Browns’ handling of the Watson situation caused disappointed and even hurt many of their fans. Mike Ryan, the executive producer of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, was an avid Browns fanatic yet tweeted this after the Deshaun Watson news:

“Was led to believe secondhand that [Kevin] Stefanski and [Andrew] Berry were decent. Was made apparent by Cleveland’s initial interest, I had too high a bar for them. Had zero expectations for [Jimmy] Haslam. Terrible stuff. Shameful.”

Despite the original hearing, news broke on March 24 that a second grand jury in another Texas county is going to look at the case, which could potentially result in a conviction. Watson also still has 22 outstanding civil suits to go through. Of those suits, only four depositions have been conducted, meaning nobody, including the Browns, knows when he will be available.

The NFL has yet to comment on the situation.