Daily Dawg Tags: Could a Deshaun Watson suspension be delayed?
By Randy Gurzi
The Daily Dawg Tags bring you all the Cleveland Browns news you need to know, and today we have some Deshaun Watson updates to dig into
After three days, the disciplinary hearings for Deshaun Watson have finally wrapped up. Still, the Cleveland Browns don’t know how long they will be without their quarterback and no timetable has been set for when an announcement will be made.
That won’t stop us all from speculating but Jim Donovan believes there’s a chance one major issue could hold things up.
That story and more can be found in today’s Daily Dawg Tags.
Cleveland Browns News
"“Let’s deal with the biggest issue in the case – and it is not a suspension of eight games or a whole season,” Donovan said. “Really, this is the big issue. There is no way a final decision can be rendered without the outstanding civil lawsuits against Watson being settled. Really, I see no way this can end without all of those cases coming to an end. There needs to be finality in that chapter. There’s no other way. I would think negotiations to reach that conclusion have to be going on daily.”"
Watson settled 20 of his 24 cases and while that should help him get some finality on the legal side of things, the four lingering cases could cause a delay. The league might feel the right move is to suspend him indefinitely and might be pushing hard for that. They could even potentially appeal any ruling that isn’t open-ended — and use the pending cases as a reason that’s needed.
"“A league source told cleveland.com that Robinson has requested post-hearing briefs from both sides, and that they’re due sometime over the next week or so. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, briefs must be filed within with three business days — which would be July 6th because of the holiday weekend — and be limited to five pages.”"
While the actual hearing has wrapped up, the process is far from finished. Both sides will present their findings but as Robinson says, we might not hear anything for weeks. It’s been a long offseason for Browns fans and they will have to continue to hear about legal issues for a bit longer it seems.
Browns can make playoffs regardless of Deshaun Watson suspension
This might not be the most popular take right now, but Eddie McDonald believes the Browns can still make the playoffs in 2022 should Watson miss the entire season. Of course, emotion could cloud some judgment, but stranger things have happened. I mean, Blake Bortles, Case Keenum, and Nick Foles were all in a championship game the same weekend and Foles won the Super Bowl.
Is it probable Cleveland makes it to the tournament with Jacoby Brissett? No, but it’s not impossible and history proves as much.
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