BEREA, Ohio — Deshaun Watson said that he has never disrespected women and that he was surprised by the allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct that have been made against him.
“I know these allegations [are] very, very serious,” Watson said. “But I’ve never assaulted any woman. I never disrespected any woman.”
The Cleveland Browns introduced Watson as their starting quarterback Friday in a news conference.
On March 18, the Browns acquired Watson in a trade with the Houston Texans before signing him to a new five-year contract worth $230 million guaranteed, the most guaranteed money on a single contract in NFL history by $80 million.
The Browns traded for Watson while he still faces civil lawsuits from 22 women that allege sexual assault and inappropriate conduct. The attorney for the plaintiffs, Tony Buzbee, told ESPN that the Browns never reached out to him or spoke to any of his clients during their investigation, which the Browns have called “extensive.”
Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry said legal counsel advised the team against contacting the women directly “out of concern it would be considered interfering with a criminal investigation.” Berry said the team did use independent investigators but would not say whether those investigators contacted the women.
“I’ll say the investigators that we hired were able to get a full perspective of all the cases,” Berry answered. “I’m not going to go into necessarily the details of everything the investigators did, but they got a full perspective for all the criminal and civil cases.”
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who met with Watson in person in Houston before trading for him, were not at the news conference but held a Zoom call with media later in the day.
“In research we did directly, in research third parties did, we got comfortable with the situation,” said Jimmy Haslam, who added that the idea to acquire Watson originated from the front office, not ownership.
Haslam said the…
Source : espn
