Lawyer Representing Watson Accusers Not Contacted by NFL Teams, Including Browns
Not long after the Cleveland Browns officially announced the trade for Deshaun Watson, including statements regarding their background process, Tony Buzbee, the lawyer representing the 22 women accusing Watson of sexual misconduct and harassment told John Barr of ESPN that no team had reached out to him in the course of their investigation regarding 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 have should have," according to Buzbee.
The league's investigators have reached out to Buzbee. That investigation has been relatively quiet to this point, taking a back seat to the legal process. Whenever the legal process, which currently includes 22 civil lawsuits, the NFL will likely make a ruling in regards to the personal conduct policy.
The fact that the Browns did not reach out to Buzbee is not necessarily an indictment of general manager Andrew Berry referred to as "extensive investigative, legal and reference work over the past several months to provide us with the appropriate information needed to make an informed decision," but it only raises more questions about the lengths the Browns were willing to go to get a true picture of the player they wanted in Watson.
Seemingly, it would benefit the Browns to know every last detail regarding Watson given the amount they were gambling on him as it relates to draft capital, fan reaction as well as money. However, that doesn't rule out the possibility that they merely sought the answers they wanted in order to proceed with something they had every intention of doing, regardless of the truth behind these accusations.
At some point, the Browns will hold a press conference and both executives and Watson will answer questions. It remains to be seen how forthright the team plans to be or if they are simply going to say as little as possible until they can get him on the field and hope to change the topic of conversation.
