Deshaun Watson Expected to Start in Browns’ Preseason Opener vs. Jaguars

Editors’ note: This story contains accounts of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or at https://www.rainn.org.

Deshaun Watson will be starting in the first preseason game of the year, on Friday against the Jaguars, the Browns announced Wednesday.

The move comes as Cleveland awaits the NFL’s appeal of a disciplinary officer’s recommendation that Watson should be suspended for six games. The league is seeking a longer suspension for the quarterback, who has been the subject of a more than yearlong investigation into allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment during massage-therapy sessions. 

Watson’s six-game suspension would begin in the regular season, meaning he is still eligible to play during the preseason. The Jacksonville game would be his first as a Brown after being traded to Cleveland in March. 

Former New Jersey attorney general Peter C. Harvey will hear the NFL’s appeal. Though there is no reported timetable for a decision from Harvey, the NFL said the appeal will be processed on an “expedited” basis. Cleveland owner Jimmy Haslam said Tuesday that “we’ll respect and honor the process” of Harvey’s final ruling, per The Washington Post’s Mark Maske.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the league is seeking an indefinite suspension for Watson. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington said the NFL is also looking at a possible monetary fine.

On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed why the league decided to appeal disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson’s decision. 

“Because we’ve seen the evidence. She [disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson] was very clear about the evidence,” Goodell said, according to Maske. “She reinforced the evidence that there [were] multiple violations here and they were egregious and it was predatory behavior.”

More than two dozen women have detailed graphic accounts of sexual harassment and sexual assault that occurred during massage therapy sessions. The accounts range from Watson allegedly refusing to cover his genitals to the quarterback “touching [a plaintiff] with his penis and trying to force her to perform oral sex on him.”

Twenty-five women filed civil lawsuits against Watson starting in March 2021, and only one dropped her case due to privacy concerns, in April ’21. Watson has since reportedly settled all but one of the civil lawsuits.

The quarterback has denied all allegations against him, and two Texas grand juries declined to indict him on criminal charges earlier this spring.

A clause built into Watson’s five-year, $230 million guaranteed contract stipulates he will lose only $55,556 for every game he’s suspended this season, amounting to approximately $330,000 if Robinson’s ruling stands. His base salary in 2022 is just $1 million, per Rapoport.