Simmons. And I'll even get a little closer in time than
that. It was about
3:40 p.m. Eastern.
I was about to get in my pre-show workout and I thought
kind of a quiet day.
Nothing really going on this afternoon. Unlike every
afternoon for the past two weeks and just as I was getting
ready.
To mount my Steed, my exercise bike and say like Russell
Wilson. Now does
let's ride.
I found out that
there was a development, there was some news you're Cleveland
Browns.
The first team out
is the last team standing. Somehow Jimmy has them in
company finagled their way back to the front of the line, money
talks
and they get DeShaun Watson, your initial reaction as
a Browns fan. To DeShaun Watson coming to Cleveland.
The first thing I think man is that it's important that we
acknowledge that this is still a human being. That is
undergoing 22 civil lawsuits for sexual misconduct
and not only that, but he gets traded to the destination where
he wants to be and receives a contract as five years in, 230,
million dollars. Every cent of which is guaranteed
and The fact that he got to pick where he wants to go and
he gets that amount of money and it's it's kind of hard for
me to wrap my head around because of everything that we
know he is accused of, and this is somebody we're
talking about who got deposed in two of these cases before
meeting with the Cleveland Browns this week. So I don't
know. I mean like as an on the field thing. Yes, obviously,
this is huge if it's huge for the The city that I grew up in
and it's great, but like,
I don't know. I find it a little bit difficult to wrap my
head around exactly what this is based on the allegations
that we know are against Amandla civil suits
that are still ongoing. It's yeah, it's something like, it's
just something.
If we go back to a week ago.
In this time slot. Our yes, Friday.
Another Friday. Closer to death version of PFT p.m. The talk.
Was that DeShaun Watson had learned that he would not be
facing any criminal charges. Nothing. No misdemeanors. No
felonies, nine criminal complaints ignored by a grand
jury in Houston,
and that created
a sense that
it's fine. Now, let's go get him. And there were some
unfortunate
comments on Twitter that, I'm to give Credence to the idea
that the truth has come out and everything out. No, no. No,
there's 22 civil lawsuits still pending
and anything can happen with those cases. He could lose
every one of them.
He could lose any one of them and those don't go away just
because he's not going to be charged criminally, but
I think that what happened was and this was a great move by
the Texans and DeShaun Watson. They did an expert job over
the weekend of stirring up.
Of interest and we saw the breathless reporting on
Saturday and Sunday. This team is interested that teams
interested. This team is interested, that team is
stirred and it morphed into a competition.
Yes, and when you get caught up in a competition, it becomes
about winning the competition, not anything else. So things
that would drag you down things that would cause you to lose
focus on the prize and the prize is winning the
competition.
The 22 lawsuits got pushed aside because then it became
and is one of the reason why people watch the scouting
combine, it's the closest thing to competition. We're going see
until football season starts
and you have a four-team tug-of-war for Deshaun Watson.
Everybody forgot about
these 22 civil cases. Well,
now that it's over
these 22 civil cases are front and center again
and they should be.
But you're right Mike. I mean it basically turns into
a high-stakes football version of The Bachelor, you know,
the Browns were standing there and they didn't get the rose at
first and then
all of a sudden, you know, we learned the Panthers aren't
going to get the rose. Either. And so now we're down to
the final two teams and uh-oh, you know, and I think this actually
just happened on The Bachelor this year.
It's not the final two. That actually gets the final Rose.
It's somebody that he Albert already spurned before. He
says, oh my gosh, we gotta bring them back because I just
can't get this person out of my mind. I can't get this team out
of my mind and now here we are the Cleveland Browns win
the competition
and they are going to be the ones who have some quarterback
stability. Ostensibly for maybe the next decade. And
don't try to tell me. I think that's what happened. Don't
give me. I think
there's what Mike I really do. I don't watch The Bachelor.
I've seen a couple Seasons, but I don't watch it. But I read
something earlier this week. It from the LA Times that was
talking about basically that. So that's the only reason why
I know that there's happen.
All right, so it's about my reading consumption that my
television consumption.
You saw the terms up there. Let's show that again. What we
have is three first-round picks, which is what the Texans
wanted as Baseline amount of compensation all along, 22, 23,
24, first-rounder
2023. Third router, 2024, fourth round, and then there's
always that extra little something that goes back to
the team.
That is acquiring the player.
Like they try to create the impression. They're dropping
little grains of rice on a scale to get it balanced. Just
right. Well, we'll give you that fourth round, but we want
to fifth round her back. I mean, come on. Come on. What
are you doing here?
So in telling that me one more,
yeah, that's what the Texans are getting. NG.
And
and the Browns we know are getting one of the best
quarterbacks in football who hasn't played all year. And
I've mentioned before, my niece Maggie, who is a week away from
having her first child
and that's been a
subject of a lot of thought and discussion and prayer for
the family as we get closer to that. But she is a huge Browns
fan, but she's not somebody who followed the sport ridiculously
closely. She has questions for me all the time. She doesn't
keep up
with it. Every minute of Day,
but she's a huge Browns fan.
So we have a lot of and it's great. It's great to have
a common ground where 90% of our text messages are question.
She has about football and
I know she's not thrilled about this.
She's not thrilled about it at all.
And she told me when it first came up, she's not happy about
it. When the possibility first laid it on the radar screen.
I don't want to show on Watson. I don't want Baker. Mayfield.
I don't want to show on Watson. And, as of yesterday, it looked
like she was getting what she wanted.
No, DeShaun Watson. And
and no Baker Mayfield. And I asked her today. And I asked
her this before I posted. What is the most recent top story at
PFT? At least it was as of ten minutes ago. Things are
changing all the time this
afternoon, but I asked her, how would you feel
about DeShaun Watson? If
on the way in the door to Cleveland,
he settles these cases and puts this behind him and gives these
individuals the justice that they're seeking. She said I'd
be fine with that.
It would change my feeling about DeShaun Watson.
He would make good with these people
who are accusing him of wrongdoing. And
that's why I posted and I think it makes sense. It's a new day,
A New Beginning
turning the page on one chapter of his life.
Get the other entanglements
in the past. Whatever it takes you got 10 million. You got
paid last year to not play football. You got 230 million
fully guaranteed over. The next five years
46 million a year
pay. Hey, whatever it takes and I know, it sounds crass, just
throw money at a problem to make it go away. That's
the entire Civil Justice System, right? Yeah, the Civil Justice
System is premised on.
You did something to me? I don't like,
you must pay me money as compensation for what you did.
So do it, whatever it takes, 18 of the women were ready to
settle
last year to facilitate a trade to the Dolphins for held out.
Or he'd already be a dolphin,
you got to convince the other four
and there are ways to do.
Our ways to put pressure. I've wrote about this at PFT their
devices. There's a device called an offer of judgment,
which really turns a lawsuit from a nothing to lose
proposition into something where the plaintiff has to say
now. Wait a minute. You mean, if I
don't do better at trial than what they're offering me. I've
got to pay a bunch of money for court costs, and litigation
costs, and travel, and all these other things. I have to
pay that myself. Wait a minute. I thought I didn't have to pay
anything
to go forward. That's what they tell me on these TV
commercials. We don't get paid unless we get money for you and
it's true. Except when you put Put a plaintiff in that
situation where they have to truly Ponder. The possibility
of having a downside that that's a,
an aggressive position to take.
And I hope that it wouldn't come to that. I hope
everybody's ready to be reasonable.
Tony Busby needs to be reasonable. DeShaun, Watson
needs to be reasonable, the 18 people who were ready to settle
eyes to your already have shown, they're willing to be
reasonable. They need to get the for holdouts to be
reasonable. But whatever it takes,
make it go away. And I don't mean that in a brush it under
the rug. I mean, Your Reckoning make your recompense
and move on with your life. I think it's the best for
the Browns. It's the best for Watson and it's the best for
a fan base
that for now if my niece who has been a fan of the Browns,
for a very long time, through thick and thin, and she has
dealt with a lot of crap if her
position, is this guy who promises to instantly turn
the team around for a decade. She's not onboard with it.
That tells me everything. I need to know, settle these
cases. Has as the First Act of your arrival in Cleveland,
well, I agree with that. And I'd Raise You My Mother, you
know, she is also a huge Browns fan. But, you know, exactly
some of the same way we text all the time
about the Browns and things that they may or may not do.
And she felt the same that she wasn't really in to necessarily
acquiring DeShaun Watson because of the types of things
that he is accused of, and with these 22, civil lawsuits still
ongoing.
So I agree with you.
I think he needs to take his Reckoning.
Needs to settle these cases in a way that satisfies each one
of these 22 women. And if he does that, then yes, it allows
the Browns and him and everyone else involved to start to turn
that page.
But I also think it's important to note, like the breath,
the Browns have vetted him. They feel comfortable.
Obviously not just acquiring him, but guaranteeing him all
this money as a Mary. Kay cabin of cleveland.com and
the Cleveland Plain Dealer report. It in her first story. She's at
the Browns with co-owner D Haslam as a member
of the NFL conduct committee thoroughly vetted, Watson and
determined that he would not be accused of sexual misconduct in
the future and that he would do whatever necessary to make
retribution
for his mistakes. Now,
we can say whether or not, we like the word mistakes in that
context, because I think what he is accused of goes beyond
a mistake,
right, but I think at the Same time.
If the Browns are this comfortable with him,
and they feel like he is going to be a model, citizen.
Whatever. That means going forward. Do you also have
an organization here that has a history
with giving players
even coaches to Second Chances, right?
And you're talking about somebody, a type of team that
gave cream hunt the second chance. Like McDonald's.
Another guy who had off-the-field issues. They gave
him a second shift, Josh Gordon came in there,
right? And he's been there for Or a very, very long time. It
was there for a very long time. The Browns, stood by him, and
gave him chance after chance after chance. So it's not
necessarily something new for the Cleveland Browns,
particularly under the ownership of Jimmy and D
Haslem.
But if they're going to feel comfortable, if DeShaun Watson
is going to be able to move forward, then he has to make
restitution. He's got to satisfy
these 22 plaintiffs in some way
that makes them feel like they have received Justice.
And I'm glad you liked onto the word mistake. It used to drive
me crazy during the Mike Vick investigation and prosecution
and ultimate incarceration. That would be referred to as he
made a mistake. He engaged in a six-year lifestyle,
it illegal dogfighting of killing dogs, deemed unfit to fight
and the only reason that it ended his because they found
it. It's not a mistake, right? He had to deliberate choice of
how he was going to live his life. DeShaun Watson
developed a habit, a pattern
of finding massage therapist.
Social media and of
and Sean Watson's lawyer Rusty Hardin. Did this last year,
some of these encounters
became sexual voluntarily. So it looks like he was kind of on
the prowl that way, kind of hoping that maybe something
would happen. And in 22 cases.
The allegation is the cross. The line. It's not a mistake.
It was a pattern of conduct
that ended because this all happened, we assume it ended
but it's not about rectifying a
Steak. It's about properly remedying. A situation that has
22 individuals Seeking Justice through the Civil Justice
System where the end result would be a verdict in their
favor
that results in DeShaun, Watson owing them, some amount of
money. And this is what the challenge will be.
And maybe this process got there. Maybe five years. 230
million fully guaranteed got to Sean Watson there but
the danger is when you're surrounded by people who are
telling you, you're in the right. You're in a
You did nothing wrong. And I know that there are at least some
that have set up a DeShaun Watson Echo chamber where
he's wrongfully accused and I've had the argument with some
of the people close to the action. It's hard to make that
argument. The 22 people are lying. There's a critical mass
between 1 and 20 to
where it's too many.
You could get by with one
saying this person just has a vendetta this person is just
wrong. This person is just greedy at some point between
one and twenty two. There's too many to say they're
All lying, there, all motivated by greed.
They're all running some sort of a scam
22, the total number of players on a football field at any one
time. That is too many.
There is something there
and the challenge will be and maybe they'll be some tension
between lawyer and agent here. The challenge is going to be to
say,
forget about that, forget about the fact that you don't believe
these. People are deserved anything forget about the fact
that you don't think you did anything wrong forget. But
the fact that
one of the ones who has filed a lawsuit called you the next day
and said, when can we do this, get whatever little quibble.
They try to put out there to win the
court of public opinion.
Forget about all that,
set, it all aside
and make it a business transaction
to each and every one.
What is it? Take to give you satisfaction to give you
justice. You tell me what it takes. You got it. What does it
take for you? You got it. What does it take for you?
You got it. That's what he needs to do.
And that's going to be a challenge.
And because that stubbornness takes on a life of its own
and it all rattles around like a ping-pong ball in a lottery
machine. It just ricochets back and forth. As they all, they
get each other all fired up. We're being wrongfully. Accused
people are dragging him in the media, you they're not being
fair. They
don't see his side or blah, blah blah.
Look, you gotta set that down and say
I screwed up.
I was wrong. I got to make it, right?
Yeah, absolutely. And look. I mean as we were just saying
he's got the money to do it specially now, you know, you
get a 230 million.
Dollar guaranteed contract, which means setting aside what
we're talking about right now. Holy smokes. What does that do
to the quarterback Market going forward? I think, you know,
Kyle and Marie's agent, this probably looking at this and
saying, oh man, we're
gonna have a pretty nice day at the expense of the Arizona
Cardinals at some point, but, you know, the other thing
that's kind of strikes me about this Mike's, just before we
were coming on the air. I saw Ian Rapoport tweet that
Deshawn Watson's base salary
for 2022 is going to be somewhere around the Ballpark
of 1 million dollars.
And so if DeShaun Watson gets suspended
that is going to come out his pay
for the suspension right there, you know, where he doesn't get
paid. That's going to come out of the million.
So it's not like this is something that they're not
thinking about from an agent standpoint from a brown
standpoint, that they might not have him
for some of the 2022 regular season
if he gets suspended. And
once these Says are resolved. We've talked about this earlier
in the week. Mike. You wrote about it too. It pfft. That's
probably when the NFL is going to take some sort of action.
So if these two cases, if these 22 cases are settled and then
DeShaun Watson is suspended.
That's what we're going to start seeing is. Okay. Well,
how much money is he lose due to the suspension? Well, it's
going to be less because it's coming out of his base pay.
That's going to be a million dollars for this year.
Yeah, and we have seen that happen in the past. It happened
with the Tom Brady's suspension. There was
a reconfiguration of his contract that reduced his salary. It
happens all the time. It's good business. There's nothing to
prevent it. I've gone down
this path before.
I've asked the NFL, you know, it's pretty transparent. It's
pretty obvious. What's happening here. You have guys
who are deliberately reducing their base pay, so that when
they are suspended, their financial loss is less
and they have not come up with any rule or procedure
to go around that. So,