John Riordan: NFL will soon have us in its hypnotic grip again

SUSPENDED: Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns. Watson has been suspended for six games for transgressing the league's personal conduct policy. Pic: Nick Cammett/Getty Images

What is this hypnotic appeal the NFL grips us with every August?

A few years back, I tried for a while to be aloof and ignore as much of the weekly Sunday pantomime served up by this nation's premier professional sport. The scandals and the mushed brains were all many of us could bear. What is this muscle-bound chess nonsense we've been tricked into worshipping?

It's not a huge coincidence that a country on the brink of civil war perpetrated chaotically by grotesquely shaped males has produced a sport in which atypically shaped athletes crash into each other over the course of four stop-start quarters.

But I discovered to my horror this week, fresh off a trip home to Ireland, that I am being sucked into the post-dog days of summer buzz of yet another American football season which is less than a month away.

I’m watching Hard Knocks, reading about injured offensive linemen and listening to thirsty podcasts making several different predictions.

There is a fresh new focus for those of us torn by the need for a distraction and the depravity of some of the characters who make this league purr.

Yesterday, the NFL increased the suspension of Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson from six games to 11 for transgressing the league’s personal conduct policy. He had settled 23 lawsuits brought by women who accused him of behaviour that leveraged his power and status and which led to varying degrees of sexual abuse.

His predatory sexual misconduct, which was almost industrial in scale, sparked a 15-month league investigation and although Watson denied the claims, the enormity and consistency of the allegations offered up only one exit route for a player boasting enough talent and youth to make a hot proposition for a struggling franchise like the Browns.

The team bet heavily that the short-term pain - bad PR, a few games missed, maybe a marginal loss of revenue from fans with half a conscience - would give way to long-term gain.

The disciplinary needle was being threaded ever so delicately up to July's decision which was handed down by an independent arbiter, a retired federal judge Sue L Robinson. Her gender mattered of course as did the collaboration on her appointment between the league and its players’ union.

This was the first player disciplinary decision to pass through an arbitration process established by a pay and conditions deal agreed in 2020 between the NFL and its players.

Unsurprisingly, Judge Robinson had to walk a wide line between league top brass pushing for an indefinite suspension and Watson's playing brethren advocating for less than six games.

Even without those conflicting pressures, the surprising brevity of his ban probably stemmed from a consideration that did not truly factor in the plight of the victims. What is the right punishment? And what is the point of drafting in an experienced judicial individual if you're going to immediately turn around and undermine her?

But the NFL was sufficiently aggrieved to appeal, not to mention sufficiently mindful of what a bad look this was all turning out to be.

The players' union had cleverly laid down a gauntlet before Robinson’s ruling, issuing a statement saying they would not appeal whatever decision emerged while also urging the NFL to abide by her penalty.

It was a brutally perfect storm to kick off this new way of dealing with wayward players.

The first accusation landed with a thud in March of 2021. The rest cascaded, vague in nature at first but ultimately revealing themselves to be repetitive. Watson would seek out massage therapists, outside of the remit of the football club more than adequately staffed to deal with any of the athletic needs of its players. He would do so clumsily via social media and paying via apps before making uncomfortable demands.

The sexual misconduct would be followed up swiftly with warnings around his status as well as his queasy claims that all he was doing was supporting Black businesses.

When one victim went public on social media, the Texans went into panic mode and a security chief prepared a non-disclosure agreement for the player which was left in his locker. The implication was clear; whatever you do, box clever when you're doing it.

But the damage was done and the lawsuits poured in. As June rolled around and training camps around the league ramped up in intensity, the god fearing Watson was keen to move back to his playing career as swiftly as possible. 

Lawyers moved to settle out of court, a tacit acknowledgement of wrongdoing, and one of the last to accept a payment was Ashley Solis who filed the first claim against Watson in 2021 and bravely made her identity public to add weight to the disgrace.

Two of the cases included allegations of sexual assault, pressuring women to perform oral sex during massages and grabbing therapists aggressively. The incidents cited were said to have occurred from March 2020 to March 2021.

However, a New York Times investigation published in June depicted a larger scale of abuse of at least 66 different women from as far back as late 2019.

And yet, with all this hanging over him, the Cleveland Browns still saw fit to offer the Houston Texans a trade to take the quarterback off their hands and ink a contract in March which will see Watson will earn $230 million over five years, all guaranteed money in a league adverse to guaranteeing money and a record scenario of that nature in the history of the NFL.

Even before the house of cards tumbled in on him, Watson was refusing to play for the Texans after they broke a pledge to include him in the search for a new coach and general manager, seemingly proving there was a limit to his ability to wield power over people. That subset of people is of course possessed of much less vulnerability.

The Texans refused to countenance trading him away and he ended up not playing at all in the 2021 season, depriving the NFL of a hugely marketable star.

Then the scandal of his actions fizzled to the surface, rendering his stardom as dark as it could possibly be. His arrival in Ohio divided a notoriously hungry and deprived fanbase, many of whom displayed their desperation for success by welcoming in their new hero, vocally so at a training camp open to members of the public.

In his first pre-season game last week, the home support at the Jacksonville Jaguars showered abuse on Watson, chanting "you sick fuck" in unison as the quarterback bumbled his way through a low key outing.

The conflicting pressures on the league were multi-faceted. Going into Thursday, last-minute talks aimed at heading off the decision by another arbiter on the appeal ended up with the NFL settling for a lesser suspension than they had initially sought. Ironically, when he is eligible to return to play, it will be an away game at the Houston Texans.

Heightening the tension and potentially inspiring the players to rally around one of their own was Watson's well regarded decision to emerge as a leading voice during the unrest of 2020, urging the NFL to support protests by players after police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd. Both Watson and Floyd grew up in Houston and he was a natural ally to march with family members during that traumatic period.

Asked in a press conference in June if he was open to settling the civil cases, Watson said he wanted to “clear my name and be able to let the facts and the legal procedures continue to play out".

It was awkward to watch and the very opposite of believable. He had “never forced” anyone into sexual activity, he claimed, but the local media gamely pushed him as much as they could away from the well rehearsed lines he had been fed.

In July, the Texans reached settlements with 30 women who accused Watson of misconduct with the six women who reached settlements with the team without suing Watson not identified. Laughably, again, there was no admission of any wrongdoing, clearly stated.

Whatever Watson’s suspension ends up being, it will begin officially when the new season starts on September 11. The Browns planned around the lack of playing time and structured his contract accordingly, loading most of his $46 million payment for this season into a signing bonus.

Nike suspended its contract with Watson over a year ago while other sponsors let their contracts end without renewal. He maintains a defiant social media presence with God and endless cash on his side.

Not to mention a breed of fan reflecting a society consistently craving the crassness of power that favours the greedy.

@JohnWRiordan