Browns send mixed message on Deshaun Watson

The Cleveland Browns said that Deshaun Watson is ‘remorseful’ but even after the NFL appealed his suspension, he claims he did absolutely nothing wrong. So what’s the truth?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was hit with a six-game suspension on Monday but the NFL decided to appeal that decision on Wednesday.

The ball is in the league’s hands now and Watson will be at their mercy as they make a decision on what his punishment will be. While we all await word from Roger Goodell — or whoever he assigns to the appeal — Watson continues to do himself no favors while he and the team are sending mixed messages.

Dee and Jimmy Haslam released a statement following the decision from Judge Sue Robinson, saying they respect her ruling. They added that Watson was “remorseful that this situation has caused much heartache.” However, following the announcement of an appeal, Watson continues to maintain that he hasn’t done anything wrong.

So is Deshaun Watson remorseful?

At this point, it’s hard to believe Watson has any remorse about what’s happened. Not only did he refuse to settle with the league on a reported 12-game suspension —  which could lead to him being out indefinitely now that the league is back in control — but he continues to say he’s guilty of nothing.

Sure, there’s some truth that he’s never been criminally charged which means no actual guilt has been found by a court of law, but the evidence is apparently overwhelming. Even those who want to say Judge Robinson didn’t agree with a long suspension are missing the point.

Robinson said she didn’t think the league’s policies allowed for a longer suspension than six games but she did say Watson was guilty of violating the personal conduct policy. She also added that his actions were more egregious than any the league has faced.

With all this being said, Watson’s best course of action should he have truly been remorseful would have been to take the settlement and put this all behind him. Cleveland running back Kareem Hunt did this back in 2019 when he was suspended for eight games despite it being his first offense against the personal conduct policy which called for a six-game ban.

Hunt likely could have won an appeal but he understood he did wrong, felt remorse for his actions, and knew the right thing to do was take the punishment and try to move forward.

Watson clearly has a problem and until he admits this, it will be hard to move forward. It’s also hard to believe he has remorse as the Haslams said he did.