The end is in sight for Deshaun Watson and the ongoing legal saga that has kept him under the microscope since March 2021. He'll have to serve a suspension for at least the first six games of the Cleveland Browns season — maybe more if the NFL wins their appeal — but once he serves his time Watson can be able to leave everything in the rearview mirror.
But it could have all been over much sooner had Deshaun's camp been more receptive to the allegations being made during its infancy. According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Watson's side wasn't simply denying the allegations — they weren't willing to even have a conversation:
At some point before March of 2021, Houston attorney Tony Buzbee contacted the representatives of then-Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson regarding a civil claim against Watson. It is common if not routine for lawyers to attempt to settle claims before filing them in court. In this case, however, Watson’s camp flatly refused to even talk.
Buzbee demanded $100,000 in order to settle the original case right then and there. Instead of negotiating, Watson's side asked for more information from the accusing camp and asked them to submit another lower offer, which Florio called a “cardinal sin” as far are such legal negotiations go.
That reportedly “pissed off” Buzbee and triggered the chain of events leading to two dozen cases sprouting out, each needing to settle at a figure estimated to be much more than the $100,000 Buzbee had asked for — and that's each.
“I can tell you at that point I was pissed,” Buzbee said Thursday in a press conference. “The U.S. Marine in me would not be denied at that point. We had no other option but to file suit.”
Florio estimates that the dollar figure that Deshaun Watson has spent could easily eclipse $10 million, and the tab is still growing by the day with legal fees continuing to pile on. To think Deshaun Watson could have avoided it all for less than one percent of that. Or, you know, if he never took a trip to any massage parlors.
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