(Cleveland) Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShaun Watson will meet with NFL officials in Texas, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.
Posted at 1:42 p.m.
Watson, who is the subject of 22 civil lawsuits filed by massage therapists accusing him of various sexual misdeeds, is scheduled to meet with league officials later this week, said the source, who declined to be named. because of the delicacy of the situation.
Watson could be sanctioned by the NFL, which has ordered an independent investigation into whether the 26-year-old violated its behavioral policy. Commissioner Roger Goodell indicated on April 28 that he had no timeline to offer for reaching a decision on Watson.
“We have no updates and decline to comment,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to the AP. We have no timeline, as the investigation is still ongoing. »
Watson agreed to a guaranteed US$230 million contract in March from the Browns, who won the multi-team derby and offered him numerous guarantees despite his run-ins with US law enforcement. Texas courts have twice declined to formally file criminal charges against Watson, but the civil lawsuits are still active.
Watson has always denied assaulting these massage therapists, and he clarified that if there was sex then it was consensual.
Although his future with the Browns remains uncertain, Watson invited some of his new teammates to the Bahamas for a weekend to get to know them and train with them.
