The message has been made abundantly clear in recent years: Football teams are not ultimately in the business of being moral pillars for their communities, despite the Women’s History Month celebrations and anti-racism slogans. They are in the business of winning games. And that is what all of us — players, coaches, fans, media — demand of them every day.
And that is why — distasteful as the recruiting meetings looked, juxtaposed as they were with Watson being deposed for some of the civil cases — teams were quite literally lining up to meet with the quarterback. In fact, some teams considered trading for him last season, long before they knew what the grand jury would decide. If the Browns win with Watson — and let’s be honest, they have a much better chance of winning the Super Bowl now and for the next decade with Watson in the fold — they will be heralded in many circles for their aggressive pursuit of excellence. If they had not pursued Watson and lost, they would not have been spared criticism. That is the balancing act teams face, and from a business perspective, it’s hard to blame them for their choices.
Throughout all of this, Watson, who has maintained his innocence, has yet to publicly express any humility about even being in this predicament. Whenever he finally addresses the situation in Cleveland, a note of regret would help. It is a well-worn path to public acceptance — just ask Mike Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles — and it would seem to be crucial for a face of a franchise.
But to have expected a team to demand some accountability before wanting Watson would have been naïve. The race was on for his services, and he had a no-trade clause, giving him control of the situation. So we had the unsavory spectacle of billionaires courting Watson without his legal travails fully resolved. That the Browns have been desperate for a franchise quarterback, for a chance to win the organization’s first championship since 1964, may ease Watson’s arrival and insulate him from some of the concerns about his legal situation. Cleveland fully guaranteeing his five-year, $230 million contract also puts the weight of the franchise behind Watson.
The bottom line is that NFL teams give second chances to those they want on the field, which is why Ben Roethlisberger and Jameis Winston returned — and flourished — after serving league suspensions following similarly troubling incidents with women that, as in Watson’s case, did not rise to the level of criminal charges. The calculation the Browns made is that, after Watson’s legal issues are resolved and the NFL makes its judgment, practically everyone will look past his alleged transgressions because he is a transcendent talent. It’s not hard to imagine that transpiring — not hard at all.
