Browns QB Deshaun Watson breaks silence on accusations
Deshaun Watson’s first day with the Browns was anything but routine — for him or his new team.
As Watson arrived in Cleveland for a physical and to answer questions about his past behavior, a second Texas grand jury declined to indict the quarterback, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 22 women and still faces civil lawsuits.
A grand jury in Brazoria County met Thursday and listened to evidence related to one criminal complaint filed to Houston police by one of the 22 massage therapists who have accused Watson of harassing or assaulting them during sessions.
The decision followed a similar one by a Harris County grand jury, which declined to indict Watson on March 11, triggering a pursuit by the Browns and several other teams for one of the league’s top QBs.
"Accordingly, this matter is closed," Brazoria County District Attorney Tom Selleck said in a statement.
Only hours earlier, Watson, wearing an orange throwback Browns jacket, arrived at the team’s headquarters in Berea, Ohio. His trip to Ohio had been delayed so Watson could give depositions Tuesday and Wednesday in Houston in some of the civil lawsuits.
And Friday, Watson finally broke the silence surrounding his allegations in an introductory press conference with the team.
"I understand the seriousness of the allegations," Watson said to the Cleveland media. "I never assaulted any woman, I never disrespected any woman in my life. I wasn’t raised that way. It’s not in my DNA."
"I don't have any regrets," Watson he added. "Like I said before, the things are off the field right now caught me by surprise because I never did anything that these people are alleging, a lot of people say I took the year off, and I used that to be able to clear my name ... I just continue to work."
"We feel very confident in Deshaun, the person," Browns GM Andrew Berry said. "We have a lot of faith in him. We believe that as he gets into the community and into our organization, he's going to make a positive impact.
"If we didn’t get comfortable with Deshaun the person, it wouldn’t have mattered how talented he was," Berry continued. "We wouldn’t have pursued the trade. I'll say the investigators that we hired were able to get a full perspective of all the cases. I'm not going to go into necessarily the details of everything the investigators did, but they got a full perspective for all the criminal and civil cases."
Berry explained that the team did extensive research over a "five-month odyssey," including sending independent investigators to Harris County to get an "unbiased, comprehensive perspective on the allegations." Berry told reporters that the team was advised against reaching out to the 22 complainants as well, to avoid any interferences in the investigation.
Watson underwent a physical earlier in the week, the last stage in finalizing his $230 million contract.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski was also present at the conference, but not owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, who conducted a separate Zoom meeting later in the day. No reason was given as to why the Haslams weren't at Watson's availability.
A three-time Pro Bowler, Watson, who sat out the 2020 season after demanding a trade, stunned the NFL by choosing Cleveland to restart his career over several other teams after initially telling the Browns he wasn’t interested in playing for them.
The Browns traded three first-round picks and six selections overall to the Texans for Watson, who may end Cleveland’s decades-long search for a franchise quarterback.
Watson, though, is still facing discipline from the NFL and it’s likely he’ll miss at least a portion of the 2022 season. The league is doing an independent investigation into Watson’s off-field behavior to determine whether he violated its personal conduct policy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.