With the regular season less than four months away, the NFL will have to make an important decision on Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Watson, who is dealing with allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault, met with NFL investigators Lisa Friel and Jennifer Gaffney this week.
So, when will the NFL figure out how it wants to handle Watson’s situation? His lawyer, Rusty Hardin, believes a decision will be made sometime in June.
“We should know what their position is initially sometime in June, and then everybody will figure out if there’s going to be a hearing about it or can people work things out, or whatever,” Hardin told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “The only thing that’s certain is that they want to try to get everything done this summer — and earlier than later in the summer. Past that, we don’t really have any firm dates or possibilities.”
Hardin also commented on the notion that the NFL hasn’t properly investigated Watson’s situation.
“This idea that [the NFL] hasn’t aggressively investigated this is totally, totally false as evidenced by the fact he’s already spent three days with them,’’ Hardin said. “They’ve obviously done a bunch of research and done a lot of work themselves and they say need to do some more.”
Watson received a record-breaking $230 million contract with the Browns this offseason. If he gets suspended for a significant period of time, that’ll undoubtedly change their outlook for the 2022 season.