Deshaun Watson might not get suspended long after all

Mike Florio weighed in on the disciplinary hearings for Deshaun Watson and the former attorney turn NFL analyst isn’t sure a long suspension will come

Mike Florio used to spend his days battling legal cases as an attorney and now runs one of the more well-known NFL sites, Pro Football Talk. Anyone who follows his site knows he’s been hard on Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns when discussing the 24 allegations of sexual misconduct.

That’s why it’s so important to pay attention now that his tone has shifted some. Florio — who didn’t soften his stance on the accusations nor should he — spoke on the recent hearings and said there “was definitely optimism that things went well for Deshaun Watson.”

Most importantly for Watson, Florio said the league was unable to provide any evidence of violence, threats of violence, or coercion.

He then summed this up by saying the lack of any evidence that assault or any violent acts took place means the baseline for the six-game suspension was not met. He added that you “don’t even get close to a year” suspension which is what the league was originally pushing for.

Deshaun Watson hearing focused on five cases

Another interesting tidbit was that Florio said the league went from 24 cases, down to 12 — meaning they focused on only 12 of the cases in their investigation. From there, they honed in on five of them as their reason for suspension.

Florio reminded us the burden is on the NFL but then said they may have gone “0-for-5” in their attempts.

What’s next?

Even with the case already being heard by Judge Sue L. Robinson, there’s no reason to believe a decision will be coming anytime soon. She has requested briefings from both sides, and they have a full week to provide those.

From there, the timetable is not certain as to when Judge Robinson will issue a ruling.

What we do know is the case might not be done then, especially if the suspension is not even six games. Chances remain high the league will try and appeal the decision — although anything over this could lead to an appeal from Watson’s side.