Deshaun Watson suspension ruling live updates: Latest on settlement with NFL, reactions (2024)

The NFL has increased Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson's suspension to 11 games with a $5 million fine and mandatory counseling. The punishment is for violation of the league's personal conduct policy with Watson being the subject of numerous sexual assault and sexual misconduct allegations.

Stay tuned into this live blog from The Athletic for news, updates and coverage on Watson.

(Top photo of Deshaun Watson: Ken Blaze / USA Today)

The Cleveland Browns have a problem. Inexplicably, it remains the same issue they’ve had for the better part of the last 20 years.

The Browns need a quarterback. Again.

It’s astonishing, really, after totaling up the $60 million they’re paying Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield and Jacoby Brissett this season. Of the three, Brissett is costing them the least, and yet he’s the only one who will be on their active roster Week 1 against Mayfield and the Carolina Panthers.

Brissett, however, was only supposed to be an aspirin to relieve the brief headache of a Watson suspension to start the season.

Eleven games isn’t a headache. It’s a head wound.

It’s time to go get Jimmy Garoppolo.

Read more below.

The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd and Zac Jackson on what the Deshaun Watson suspension settlement means for the Browns going forward.

Deshaun Watson will be suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 NFL regular season, with Jacoby Brissett expected to start in his place. Even with a deep and talented Cleveland roster and Watson available for the regular season’s final six games, data from my NFL projection model and 100,000 simulations of the NFL season show why the Browns still will have an uphill battle to make the playoffs.

First, let’s check in on how the Browns would fare if Brissett started the entire season:

Tony Buzbee, the attorney for Watson’s accusers, released a statement Thursday afternoon with a critical response to the suspension settlement.

“By settling this matter the way he has, Roger Goodell has proven one of two things: either his rhetoric was utter baloney, or his bark is much worse than his bite,” Buzbee said in the statement, according to multiple reports. “My belief is that he is nothing more than a paper tiger. The message today to all victims is clear, if you believe you have been sexually assaulted by a powerful person, keep your mouth shut and go away. The NFL has certainly demonstrated that its ownership and the organization doesn’t care. To all sexual assault survivors, do not allow this recent ‘punishment’ to deter you. Keep speaking up and keep speaking out. Your voice matters. You are making a difference. We stand with you.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson received an 11-game suspension from the NFL on Thursday, ending the appeal to his initial six-game ban handed down by Sue L. Robinson. Watson was also fined $5 million and must undergo counseling after being accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct by more than 20 massage therapists.

The NFL appealed Robinson’s decision as it sought to suspend Watson for the entire 2022 season. Robinson is a former federal judge who was appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association to decide Watson’s punishment.

Watson was never charged criminally through the allegations, but he did reach civil settlements with more than 20 of his accusers. At the time of the alleged incidents, Watson played for the Houston Texans. In March, the Browns traded for the 26-year-old quarterback.

With the appeal process over, the Browns must prepare to play the majority of the 2022 season without Watson. Here’s what we know about his suspension and the Browns’ plans.

Although his suspension does not begin until Aug. 30 and he is eligible to practice until the suspension begins, Deshaun Watson will not play in anymore preseason games.

Friday night was all about Deshaun Watson, as most of the offseason has been. The Browns started Watson and he played three series because they want to get him live-action work before his suspension kicks in . So the Browns went about this bizarre preseason with Watson at the front of every line. His start Friday marked his first game action in 586 days, so it was useful in that the Browns were finally able to see him perform at full speed.

They didn’t see much. Watson was 1-of-5 passing. Receiver Anthony Schwartz had two bad drops. The Browns lost a fumble and lost their starting center, Nick Harris, on the second play to a potentially serious knee injury.

Read more below.

The $5 million fine for Deshaun Watson is the largest player fine in league history. The largest in league history came just a year ago when the NFL levied a $10 million fine on the Washington Commanders following an investigation into the team's workplace culture.

In 2016, as a New England Patriots rookie buried deep on the depth chart until Tom Brady served a four-game suspension, Jacoby Brissett was forced into duty in his second pro game and had to start five days later in a short-week situation. Ahead of the 2017 season, he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts and played five days later — then started the rest of the season. Last season, Brissett served twice as the Miami Dolphins’ temporary starter before hitting free agency and getting the call from the Browns as they worked to finalize the Watson trade.

Now 29 and a veteran of 60 NFL games and 37 starts, Brissett knows he’s the starter to begin the season — and believes he can excel in this situation.

“I definitely think I am a starter in this league, and I don’t think it’s far-fetched that (I still can be a long-term) starter,” Brissett told The Athletic in June. “You can play a long time as a quarterback in this league. If you look at it, I’ve only played, what, two years really? When you look at it in the grand scheme of things, I’m still young in this position. I am young and so I’m excited. I’m not in any rush. I don’t think somebody can come and say, ‘Oh, he’s older, he’s washed’ or anything like that because I’ve gotten better every year. I really have.”

(Photo: Ken Blaze / USA Today)

Following nearly a year and a half of accusations, denial, legal wrangling and speculation, Deshaun Watson’s football future has finally received clarity.

The Browns quarterback and the NFL settled on an 11-game suspension and $5 million fine, sources told The Athletic. Watson will also undergo counseling, according to multiple reports.

After Sue L. Robinson — the former federal judge appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association to decide Watson’s punishment — suggested a six-game ban to begin the 2022 season, the NFL exercised its right to appeal the punishment, creating the possibility of a longer suspension. The two sides agreed to a settlement before former New Jersey attorney general Peter C. Harvey, who was overseeing the appeals process, made a final decision.

Watson, 26, has not played since 2020. He was traded from Houston to Cleveland this spring before signing a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal with the Browns.

This evolving, complicated situation can be difficult to track. To understand how things got to where they are, check out the below timeline, which will be updated as new information emerges.

The league appealed Judge Sue L. Robinson's original ruling of a six-game suspension before reaching today's settlement. The NFL notified the NFLPA that it would appeal Robinson's decision earlier this month. Without the settlement, a source told The Athletic the league was seeking an indefinite suspension that would last a minimum of one year.

Deshaun Watson's first game is set to be against his former team, the Houston Texans, on Dec. 4.

Watson, who was traded from Houston to Cleveland this spring before signing a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal with the Browns, has settled 23 of 24 civil lawsuits against him.

Watson has been in training camp with the Browns since July 23 and started the preseason opener against the Jaguars.

(Photo: Douglas DeFelice / USA Today)