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The official ruling on Deshaun Watson's suspension has been reached. After months of deliberation and an appeal from the NFL, the league has decided on this punishment for Watson. The Cleveland Browns quarterback will be suspended for 11 games and will be given a fine of $5 million. Afterwards, Watson will go through a mandatory evaluation.
This, of course, is a bit different than the season-long suspension that the NFL was reportedly looking for. If you wanted an explanation as to why Deshaun Watson agreed to these terms, well, here's a nice tidbit. Reportedly, the Browns QB just wanted to get on the field ASAP, which is why he was willing to stomach a $5 million fine. (via Jeremy Fowler)
What became clear in Deshaun Watson settlement talks, per sources, is Watson was open to paying a hefty fine to see the field as soon as possible. That was the goal. And got the sense he would have paid more than $5M to be eligible for half the season.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 18, 2022
Interestingly, though, Watson seemed to balk at the idea of paying more than $5 million to be suspended for less than half of the season. There's a lot going on in this story, and it just goes to show how chaotic this situation is for the Browns. It turns out that trading for a quarterback with more than twenty sexual assault allegations will lead to a lot of drama.
Regardless, this is the bed that the Browns made for themselves. Now, they must find a way to soldier on this season without their shiny new quarterback. Will they just punt on this season and waste another year of their talented core? Or will they trade for a veteran quarterback to keep them alive until Watson's return?
It will be interesting to see what path the Browns will take after this news. Expect them to make a lot of moves a few weeks before the official start of the season.
