"Somebody just needs to tell him to shut up" - Mike Florio slams Deshaun Watson for IG post denying allegations in New York Times' report
The Deshaun Watson story has been enjoying a steady cooldown over the last several weeks leading up to June. However, the 15-month long tale received yet another curveball when a 23rd and 24th victim came forward and accused the quarterback of sexual misconduct.
Soon after, the New York Times released a story that estimated that at least 66 massage therapists saw Watson over a 17-month span. In response to the new wave of heat, the quarterback posted an Instagram story denying the allegations in an indirect manner, according to Ari Meirov.
Deshaun Watson eventually deleted the story, but screenshots from before he did so made it on to Twitter as seen below:
Deshaun Watson on Instagram, reacting to today’s New York Times story: https://t.co/TkSKi2PaiC
In response, one NFL analyst asked for someone close to Deshaun Watson to speak some sense into the quarterback. Speaking on Pro Football Talk, show host Mike Florio slammed Watson, saying that he will essentially never fully recover from this. Here's how he put it:
"Somebody just needs to tell him to shut up. Don't do this. Don't do it. Nothing. You're not going to make it better. At this point. You're not going to make it better. You know, he's so intent on fighting these because he wants to clear his name. Your name is never getting cleared at this point."
He continued, explaining how this is worse than what happened to Ben Roethlisberger:
"It's never going away. There are too many people. It's lasted too long. You know, the Ben Roethlisberger stuff, as serious as it was, it ended quickly. He started playing again, he served his suspension, and one year led to two years [which] led to three years and it became forgotten."
Florio went on to explain that Watson is surrounded by yes men, which poses problems:
"This is never going to be forgotten because it's already 15 months old and it has no end in sight. So, and this is just a little microcosm of the fact that he's either ignoring good advice that he's getting, or he's surrounded by too many people telling him what they think he wants to hear."
The Browns bet $230 million on Deshaun Watson because they hoped everyone would just move on. But the NY Times did something that the team arrogantly refused/pretended to do: They actually investigated what happened. https://t.co/7p5f9ofv71
He continued, saying the quarterback needed some tough love:
"He needs tough love here, he needed it. 15 months ago, he needed somebody to sit him down and say to Deshaun, 'what are you doing? Listen, you got to stop it. And you got to make amends. You got to do it. This is not the time to to get, you know, puff your chest out. I didn't do anything.'"
Florio elaborated on what he wanted Deshaun Watson's entourage to say:
"'This is a time to make amends. Because you got people coming out of the woodwork saying you did something and I don't care if you did it or not. You got to fix it.' That's the kind of message he needed."
The Texans should be ashamed. The Browns should be quadruply ashamed. And Deshaun Watson should never play in the NFL again. The end.
Lastly, the analyst called for the quarterback to stop resisting and accept punishment:
"And before he posted that message yesterday with the lyrics that suggest defiance... defiance is not a good look for him right now. It hasn't been a good look from the get-go.”
Deshaun Watson's professional slide
In 2019, most had high hopes for the quarterback of the Houston Texans. In 2017, Deshaun Watson was drafted 12th overall in the first round of the draft, per Pro Football Reference.
From then until the end of 2019, he was 24-13 in his career and had thrown 71 touchdowns and 29 interceptions.
After winning a playoff game in 2019, some went into the following offseason expecting a deep playoff run. Instead, Waston jumped while the team did not, creating the first big slide of the quarterback's career. He threw for 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions, but his team went 4-12.
By 2020, Deshaun Watson had thrown for 104 touchdowns and 36 interceptions, but his record stood at a below-par 28-25. Soon after the conclusion of the NFL season, news broke of the tsunami of accusations hurled at the Cleveland Browns quarterback. This factored into Watson missing the 2021 season.
Now, a new wave of accusations have returned to bite Watson once again. Will he get a chance in 2022 to start rebuilding his name? Given the sheer magnitude of the situation he has brought upon himself, it looks increasingly unlikely.