Watson, Deshaun (1995- )

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      Deshaun Watson Accused of Sexual Assault in Civil Suits

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      Lawsuits filed Tuesday and Wednesday accused the Houston Texans quarterback of misconduct during massages last year. Watson said in a statement Tuesday that he had never “treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect.”Deshaun Watson, the star quarterback of the Houston Texans, has been accused of sexually assaulting two massage therapists last year, according to two civil suits filed this week in Harris County, Texas.In the first complaint, filed late Tuesday, a woman accused Watson, 25, of accosting her and pressuring her to have sex with him during a massage at her home in Houston. The woman said Watson had responded to an advertisement for her massage services and had asked if she would be the only person home when he arrived. Watson denied the accusation in a statement posted to his Twitter account Tuesday night.On Wednesday, Watson was accused in a second complaint, by another woman who said that last year he pressured her to have sex with him during a massage.According to the first complaint, on March 30, 2020, Watson went to the woman’s home and, once on the massage table wearing only a small towel, instructed the woman to focus on his groin. Watson, according to the complaint, “moved his body so he could expose himself more.”The woman ended the massage abruptly and asked him to leave, the complaint said. She claimed that Watson had suggested that he could ruin her reputation if she tried to ruin his by speaking publicly about the encounter.Watson later sent a text message to the woman to apologize, according to the complaint. She did not respond.In a statement posted to Twitter on Tuesday night, Watson said that he “never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect” and that he looked forward to clearing his name. Watson also said that he had rejected “a baseless six-figure settlement demand” made before the accuser’s lawyer filed the lawsuit.The accusers seek “minimal compensatory damages,” according to the complaints. After submitting the first filing on Tuesday, Tony Buzbee, a high-profile and flamboyant plaintiffs lawyer in Houston who is representing both accusers, wrote on Instagram that the case was not about money but about “stopping behavior that should be stopped.”Buzbee, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Houston in 2019, did not describe the accusations against Watson in that Instagram post, but he separately told a Houston television reporter on Tuesday that “Watson went too far” with the first woman who had been giving him a massage.According to the second complaint, Watson contacted a massage therapist in Atlanta in August and made specific requests for what he wanted in a massage. Watson agreed to pay to fly the woman to Houston, and they met at The Houstonian Hotel in a suite Watson had reserved, the complaint said.Watson immediately disrobed, according to the complaint, and the woman asked him to cover himself. Watson became increasingly suggestive, urging the massage therapist to perform sexual acts, the complaint said, adding that she stopped the massage and Watson grabbed her. The woman left the room and went directly to the airport, according to the complaint, and Watson paid her for the massage but did not reimburse her for her flights.Several months later, Watson contacted the woman and said he was in Atlanta and asked if she was available, according to the complaint. She did not respond.The Texans said in a statement that they became aware of a lawsuit involving Watson through social media on Tuesday night. “This is the first time we heard of the matter, and we hope to learn more soon.”“The N.F.L. is aware of the reports and will decline further comment at this time,” Brian McCarthy, an N.F.L. spokesman, said Wednesday.Watson is one of the league’s best and most recognizable players, who during a 2020 off-season of social and political turmoil called for racial justice in a player-led video that urged the N.F.L. to support players’ protests. In early June, about a week after the police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd, Watson marched with the family of Floyd — who grew up in Houston — to protest police brutality.The sexual assault accusations come as Watson faces an uncertain future in Houston. In September, he signed a four-year extension to stretch his contract through 2025, but he has now requested a trade, vowing never to play for the Texans again. The team went 4-12 in 2020, with Watson throwing for the most yardage and touchdown passes of his career, even as the franchise replaced its head coach and general manager and cut ties with popular players.Texans executives stressed in January that they had no intention of dealing Watson, who, with a no-trade clause, can influence where he next plays. David Culley, who was hired as the Texans’ coach this off-season, told reporters in Houston last Thursday that the Texans were “very committed” to Watson, but he also said during a March 11 podcast interview that Watson is “our starting quarterback as of right now,” a quotation suggesting his status with the team might change. On Tuesday, the Texans prepared for that possibility, if not likelihood, by agreeing to sign the veteran free-agent quarterback Tyrod Taylor. More

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      N.F.L. Quarterbacks on the Move: Wentz. Watson? Darnold?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.F.L. Quarterbacks on the Move: a GuideCarson Wentz is a Colt, Jared Goff is a Lion and Deshaun Watson wants to be anything but a Texan. A look at the deals that have been done, and a few more that might be next.Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff will be swapping uniforms.Credit…Paul Sancya/Associated PressFeb. 19, 2021, 10:57 a.m. ETIt is not two weeks since the Super Bowl, and already three quarterbacks — including the first and second picks in the 2016 draft — have been traded. More movement, possibly much more, will follow. Frustrated stars, well-priced veterans, young starters — all could be on the move, as this emerging era of quarterback empowerment collides with a salary-cap crunch that compels teams to assess their resources at the sport’s most critical position.All deals cannot be made official until the new league year begins on March 17, but here’s a partial list of quarterbacks who will be — or might be — wearing new uniforms when the 2021 season opens next fall.Quarterbacks Who Have Already Been TradedJared Goff, Rams to Lions Whether Goff, 26, revitalizes his career with Dan Campbell’s merry band of kneecap biters in Detroit depends, in part, on his aptitude for doing something with the Lions that he did not do with the Rams: hold on to the ball. Considering Campbell’s apparent penchant for cannibalism — beyond vowing to bite off opponents’ kneecaps, he also stated at his introductory news conference that the Lions would “take another hunk out of you” — Goff would be wise not to approach the 17 turnovers he committed last season.Matthew Stafford, Lions to Rams After 12 seasons without a postseason victory in Detroit, where he became the Lions’ franchise leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns, Stafford will join the Rams, a team that acquired him to win far more than just one playoff game. Backed by a ferocious defense, Stafford, 33, should allow Coach Sean McVay to unbridle a downfield passing game that rarely materialized with Goff.From deep in the archives: Carson Wentz smiling in an Eagles jersey.Credit…Michael Ainsworth/Associated PressCarson Wentz, Eagles to Colts Wentz was done with the Eagles, and the Eagles were done with him, so their ability to turn one of the N.F.L.’s worst quarterbacks last season (and his onerous contract) into a decent return from Indianapolis — a third-round pick in April and a second-rounder in 2022 that could turn into a first — is a small, if pyrrhic, victory. But his departure from Philadelphia still signifies a failure for an organization that 20 months ago rewarded him with the most guaranteed money (more than $107 million) in league history at the time. The Colts are betting that Wentz will be invigorated by reuniting with two former mentors in Philadelphia, Coach Frank Reich and the assistant Press Taylor, and by joining a roster laden with foundational talent on both sides of the ball.Quarterbacks Who Might Be TradedSam Darnold, Jets Though Darnold would seem a not-incompatible fit for the run-heavy scheme of the new offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, his future with the Jets hinges on two factors: the team’s interest in Deshaun Watson and its evaluation of every draft-eligible quarterback not named Trevor Lawrence. If General Manager Joe Douglas perceives potential successors like Justin Fields of Ohio State or Zach Wilson of Brigham Young as better long-term options, or if he succeeds in prying Watson from Houston, then Darnold — drafted third over all only three years ago — could be gone.Deshaun Watson, Texans Watson has requested a move away from Houston and, armed with a no-trade clause negotiated into the four-year extension he signed last September, can influence his destination. The Texans, when not doing things that alienate their star quarterback, have been adamant in saying they want to keep Watson. Considering he counts a bargain-rate $10.54 million against the salary cap in 2021, they have no incentive to offload him. But with Watson steadfast in his desire to leave, at some point the Texans must determine if they can remain steadfast in their desire to hold on to him — and if not, just how colossal a bounty they can extract for him.Deshaun Watson wants to leave the Texans, who are not ready (yet) to grant that wish.Credit…Eric Christian Smith/Associated PressMarcus Mariota, Raiders His lone appearance last season — when he accounted for 314 yards, including 88 rushing, in the Raiders’ Week 15 loss to the Chargers — showcased the tantalizing skills that prompted Tennessee to draft Mariota No. 2 over all in 2015. With a reasonable $10.6 million cap hit next season, Mariota may be able to parlay that single game, and some untapped promise, into a better opportunity elsewhere.Quarterbacks Who Are Unlikely to Move, but Who Knows?Derek Carr, Raiders To be clear, the Raiders have shown no inclination to trade Carr, who was the only regular-season quarterback to outduel Patrick Mahomes (and nearly did it twice). But in a division ruled by Mahomes, and with the rookie Justin Herbert of the Chargers ascending, the Raiders might be swayed to move Carr provided they were assured of a definite upgrade. Beyond possibly Watson, there aren’t many of those available.Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers The 49ers nearly won a Super Bowl with Garoppolo and may be quite content to try to reach another again with him. But he has missed 23 games across the last three seasons, and according to overthecap.com, San Francisco could save $23.6 million by releasing or trading him. Could this be the off-season Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch get younger at the position?Drew Lock, Broncos The Broncos’ struggle to develop a successor to Peyton Manning led them most recently to Lock. His uneven second season suggested he continues to tilt on the team’s scale of tall, big-armed quarterbacks more toward Brock Osweiler than John Elway, who picked Lock in the second round in 2019. Lock would figure to be involved in any potential deal for Watson, who might be enticed by Denver’s receiving talent.Dak Prescott, Cowboys When healthy, Prescott ranks among the league’s best quarterbacks. So there is a better chance that Dallas lures Troy Aikman out of retirement than lets Prescott, recovering from a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle, leave in free agency. The Cowboys are still hoping to complete a long-term deal with him before March 9, the deadline for applying a franchise tag, and if the sides can’t agree, Prescott would play under the tag for a second consecutive season. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers Roethlisberger, who turns 39 next month, told The Athletic that he would be glad to restructure a contract that next season carries a $41.25 million cap charge. That could free up money to help the Steelers retain some of their 19 unrestricted free agents, but the gesture is moot if they decide the team’s long-term prospects are better without him.Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins It’s possible that Miami, instead of using the third overall pick to surround Tagovailoa with more offensive talent, will choose to draft his replacement instead. But the only plausible scenario in which Tagovailoa is traded this off-season involves the Texans, who would almost certainly demand his inclusion as part of any package for Watson.Quarterbacks Who Could Be Availa— NopeAaron Rodgers, Packers: Russell Wilson, Seahawks: Wilson went all Festivus on the Seahawks, airing his grievances during a recent media blitz. He lamented getting hit so frequently and, spurred by watching Tom Brady and pals power Tampa Bay to a title, indicated he would like a larger voice in personnel decisions. Both are legitimate gripes. The Seahawks know how rare Wilson is. They may appease him. But they’re not trading him.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Rams Acquire Stafford for Goff as N.F.L. Quarterback Market Warms

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRams Acquire Stafford for Goff as N.F.L. Quarterback Market WarmsThe Los Angeles Rams added a productive passer, Matthew Stafford, to a sagging offense, while the rebuilding Lions took on Jared Goff, a reclamation project with an onerous contract.Jared Goff, who led the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl in the 2018 N.F.L. season, was traded for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is ranked fifth among active quarterbacks in passing yards (45,109).Credit…Paul Sancya/Associated PressJan. 31, 2021Updated 8:04 p.m. ETIn many other N.F.L. off-seasons, a swap of quarterbacks once drafted No. 1 over all, with a bundle of early-round future picks also involved, would signify the boldest, most intriguing move of the winter. But the trade consummated on Saturday by the Detroit Lions, who agreed to take on Jared Goff’s onerous contract from the Los Angeles Rams to sweeten their return for Matthew Stafford, might just be a prelude to a series of wild quarterback deals and signings over the next two months that upend the N.F.L. landscape.About half of the league’s 32 teams ended the regular season with uncertainty at the quarterback position. That group includes the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints — Philip Rivers retired at the end of the regular season and Drew Brees is likely to follow — but it is headlined by the Houston Texans, who are locked in a stalemate with their marvelous but disgruntled star, Deshaun Watson, who has reportedly requested a trade.The Rams had been hinting for weeks at their disenchantment with Goff, in whom they invested $110 million guaranteed via a contract extension signed 16 months ago. Rather than risk another team swooping in to acquire Stafford, long among the league’s more prolific passers, they enticed Detroit by sending a third-round pick in this year’s N.F.L. draft and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 for the ability to offload Goff’s contract.A person in football with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed the trade, which cannot be made official until the new league year begins on March 17. The Rams, though, did wink at it Saturday night in a post to Twitter that asked whether Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw — who attended Highland Park High School in Texas with Stafford — had “heard from an old friend today?”For Los Angeles, acquiring Stafford represents just another audacious move for a franchise that specializes in them. The Rams have not drafted in the first round since 2016, when they traded up to take Goff. Unless they acquire a pick, they won’t select in that round again until 2024. But it is the team’s eagerness to part with draft compensation for production at critical positions that has consistently positioned them as a contender in the N.F.C., even boosting them to the Super Bowl behind Goff in the 2018 season.Over the last two years, though, Goff has regressed, committing 38 turnovers — 29 interceptions, tied for third most in the N.F.L. in that span — and was effectively benched in favor of the undrafted backup John Wolford at the end of the regular season even though he told Coach Sean McVay he had recovered enough from thumb surgery to start. In unburdening themselves of Goff, the Rams gain the potent downfield passing threat they have been lacking while also bolstering their capacity to compete in an N.F.C. West where Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson set a blistering pace.Pending more moves, this iteration of the Rams — the team had the league’s stingiest defense in the 2020 season — just might have more talent than any team Stafford has played on across his 12 N.F.L. seasons, all of which were with Detroit. That stretch was defined by the Lions’ inability to complement him on the other side of the ball. Stafford, who turns 33 on Sunday, is by far the Lions’ franchise leader in passing yards, completions and touchdowns, and ranks fifth among active quarterbacks in career yards with 45,109. But he has played in only three playoff games, winning none, and was selected to just one Pro Bowl, in 2014.He asked the Lions to trade him this off-season, and his departure marks another milepost in their grand organizational overhaul. After firing Coach Matt Patricia and General Manager Bob Quinn in November 2020, Detroit hired a new coach, Dan Campbell, and a new general manager, Brad Holmes, who as the director of college scouting had endorsed the Rams’ selection of Goff No. 1 over all in 2016.Goff, who is still owed roughly $43 million guaranteed, affords Detroit a credible quarterback to start in 2021 but hardly prevents the team from pursuing another quarterback in the draft. Selecting in the top eight for the third consecutive year, the Lions are stockpiling picks to be used not only to augment a barren roster but that could go toward a package for Stafford’s long-term successor.Considering the package that the Lions received for Stafford, it is presumed that the Texans, should they choose to honor Watson’s request, will try to extract an even greater total of first-round picks for a younger and better quarterback. By that logic, though, Houston would also have to take on a contract as onerous as Goff’s to receive appealing compensation.That trade-off was worthwhile for the Lions, who have sorted out their quarterback situation, and the Rams, who seem delighted to have landed Stafford. Much of the league will be busy figuring out whether to stay put or to try to surpass them.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Reeling Texans Set to Hire David Culley as Head Coach

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyReeling Texans Set to Hire David Culley as Head CoachCulley, who is Black, is one of only two nonwhite N.F.L. head coaches hired in this cycle. His task: leading a Houston franchise that has alienated its star players.David Culley, 65, takes over the Houston Texans, whose 4-12 record last season almost belies the bleakness of its circumstances: limited draft capital, no elite receivers, a forbidding salary-cap situation. Credit…Scott Galvin/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJan. 28, 2021Updated 7:11 p.m. ETAs their tumultuous season bleeds into a tumultuous January, the Houston Texans have reportedly chosen the Baltimore Ravens assistant David Culley to help foster their revival, making him the first — and only — Black head coach hired after the 2020 regular season.Culley, 65, has a long and distinguished N.F.L. résumé, but this will be his first head coaching job at any level, and he joins the organization at a fraught time, as it strategizes how to proceed with disgruntled players, a star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, who is reportedly seeking a trade, and without many draft assets after trades gutted the supply.Culley, the Texans’ first full-time head coach of color since their inception in 2002, is the second head coach from a nonwhite background hired by a team this winter. Romeo Crennel, who is Black, had been interim head coach since October 2020 when the team fired Bill O’Brien, the coach and general manager, after starting the season 0-4. The Jets hired Robert Saleh, believed to be the league’s first Muslim Arab American head coach, earlier this month.The league, which has long been scrutinized for lacking diversity across its coaching positions, updated its interview processes last May, increasing the minimum number of interviews teams were required to conduct with external head coaching candidates from nonwhite backgrounds from one to two. But the guideline, the Rooney Rule, does not require teams to hire coaches of color, and the league will enter the 2021 season with only one more nonwhite coach than it started with last year. Three-quarters of the league’s players are people of color, but the vast majority of top coaches and player personnel executives are white men.“They are trying, but they are struggling,” Nellie Drew, director of the Center for the Advancement of Sport at the University at Buffalo School of Law, said of the N.F.L. in an interview Thursday. “The results to date have not been impressive, especially given the number of people of color who play in the league.”Saleh and Culley join Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins as head coaches of color. In 2011, the N.F.L. had, for the first time, eight nonwhite head coaches among its ranks, a peak it reached again in the 2017 season.The Ravens will get two third-round draft picks, one in 2021 and one in 2022, as compensation for losing a nonwhite staff member who became a head coach as part of the N.F.L.’s incentive system that was ratified by league owners in November. The new measure was criticized by some, including African-American coaches and players.“I just have never been in favor of rewarding people for doing the right thing,” Tony Dungy, a former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts, said in May 2020. “And so I think there’s going to be some unintended consequences.”Culley filled several roles for the Ravens across the last two seasons — assistant head coach, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach — helping to establish the league’s leading rushing offense in 2020, but one that ranked last in passing. In 2019, Culley helped bolster the Ravens to No. 1 in scoring with an average of 33.2 points per game.Noted for his ability to develop creative schemes that improve players’ weaknesses and complement their strengths, Culley cultivated a reputation as an excellent teacher and communicator across his 27 seasons as an N.F.L. coach, most of which have been spent assisting Andy Reid, first in Philadelphia and then in Kansas City.“David will do a good job,” Reid said after practice Thursday. “He’s a people person. He’ll bring energy to the building.”Ravens Coach John Harbaugh overlapped nine seasons with Culley as assistants in Philadelphia and has said that he tried multiple times to hire him in Baltimore. When Harbaugh finally succeeded in 2019, luring Culley from Buffalo, where he coached the Bills’ quarterbacks, he called it a “coup.”Culley was an athlete growing up in Sparta, Tenn., about 90 miles east of Nashville, where he played football, baseball and basketball at White County High School. He was a quarterback at Vanderbilt and went on to coach at several colleges before entering the N.F.L. in 1994 as the receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.It came as no surprise to Harbaugh that Culley would be picked up this year — by the Texans.“I do believe that David Culley would be a tremendous hire for any team; maybe, especially, the Texans with Deshaun Watson,” Harbaugh said on Jan. 11.But the opportunity to coach Watson may not come, as the quarterback reportedly requested a trade after a series of disagreements with the Texans’ upper management. He reportedly became disgruntled when the team hired a new general manager, Nick Caserio, without his consultation this year and felt the team had been inattentive to social justice causes, including diversifying their hiring practices.Watson had signed a four-year, $156 million contract extension in September 2020 that included about $75 million guaranteed, a $27 million signing bonus and a no-trade clause, meaning that he will have a say in where he ends up next, if the Texans pursue a deal. Culley’s hiring will not have an effect on Watson’s decision, according to ESPN.Culley takes over a team whose 4-12 record last season almost belies the bleakness of its circumstances: limited draft capital, no elite receivers, a forbidding salary-cap situation. After finishing 10-6 in 2019 and winning the A.F.C. South for the fourth time in the previous five seasons, the Texans flopped last season. O’Brien had reportedly argued with players, including the star defensive end J.J. Watt, who later ranted about the team’s “trash” season in a postgame news conference.“We need a whole culture shift,” Watson told reporters in a videoconference after the regular season ended. “We need new energy. We need discipline. We need structure. We need a leader so we can follow that leader as players.”Culley will have to be that person, with or without Watson.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More