"Deshaun Watson offered each plaintiff $100,000" - Report claims Browns QB offered heavy compensation in a bid to settle all cases
Deshaun Watson continues to look worse and worse in the wake of a lawsuit brought forth by 23 (and counting) accusers, with unsightly details recently coming out about his proposed NDAs.
Buried in a footnote to the 23rd lawsuit against Deshaun Watson is a bombshell -- last year, he offered each plaintiff $100,000 to settle the claims against him. However, not all of the plaintiffs would accept the "aggressive" NDA that was proposed. wp.me/pbBqYq-ci3e
At the bottom of the second page of the 23rd lawsuit filed against Watson is what Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio called a 'nonchalant bombshell.' The quote from footnote 2 to the petition filed by Watson's 23rd accuser, Nia Reese Lewis Smith, reads:
"Of course, we now know that Deshaun Watson offered each Plaintiff $100,000 to settle their cases, but not all would accept that amount, due to the aggressive nondisclosure agreement that Watson’s team proposed.”
In legal terms, Florio explained the repercussions of Watson not paying each plaintiff such an aggressive sum:
"Based on the language in footnote 2 to the Smith lawsuit, the nondisclosure language derailed the settlement. Earlier last year, a settlement of the claims was derailed because attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents all of the plaintiffs, wanted nondisclosure language and Hardin/Watson did not. Hardin told Feldman that Buzbee didn’t want the public to know how little his clients were getting. By late October, they would have been getting $100,000 each. That’s the exact amount that initially was requested from Watson as an opening position, before the first lawsuit was filed and all legal hell broke loose. Surely, if Watson could go back to that point and pay the $100,000, he would have. Clearly, he should have."
Deshaun Watson could end up missing a good chunk of the 2022 season
Things have seemingly gone downhill for the Cleveland Browns since they handed Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract this past offseason.
I'm fascinated to see what the NFL does with Deshaun Watson. MLB set a pretty aggressive precedent with Trevor Bauer. Pressure is on IMO.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer's suit became closely linked to Watson's as the MLB came down hard on the pitcher and suspended him for two full seasons. It'd be bad if Watson didn't miss any time after that, considering the similarities in the two cases, with Watson even having (many) more accusers than Bauer did.
With another accuser and a revelation that Watson was seeking an NDA with all of his accusers for $100,000 each, the optics are brutal for the Browns organization right now.
If they can somehow make things right with Baker Mayfield, they may be able to save some face this season. If not, Cleveland could be at the bottom of the AFC North, with Jacoby Brissett leading the charge and two former first-round NFL Draft picks in street clothes every Sunday.