The Cleveland Browns' trade for Deshaun Watson became official on Sunday. It marks a new era for a team looking to build into a truly elite unit. But the Browns will also have a lot of questions to answer about their commitment to their community by bringing in a player who has been accused of vile and unwanted sexual acts on 22 different occasions.
After the trade became official, the Browns released statements from team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, head coach Kevin Stefanski, and general manager Andrew Berry. Each touched on different parts of what Watson means to the team but they all include, in some form, a mention of how extensive the franchise's investigations into Watson were.
A key figure in Watson's legal case suggests that those investigations were not very rigorous. Tony Buzbee, the attorney who's representing the 22 women bringing the accusations against Watson, told ESPN's John Barr that the Browns did not reach out to him during their investigations into Watson.
“The Browns organization did not reach out to me. I didn’t expect them to do so, and can understand why they didn’t. But, knowing what I know, they probably should have,” Buzbee said.
— John Barr (@JohnBarrESPN) March 20, 2022
This is a disgraceful and massive omission to the Browns' investigation. Only getting one side of the story—especially one this dire—is a complete failure in due diligence. It gives off the impression that the team has no interest in truly understanding Watson's actions or hearing from the side of those who were victimized by him. Whether this was an intentional decision or not, it is inexcusable.
The work the Browns did gave them a good picture of Watson and swung a massive trade for him.
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