While NFL players are larger than life, often make more money than any of us will ever see and some become very famous, they are also just human beings. That can sometimes be hard to remember and can lead fans and media to treat them as something other than that.
With the Cleveland Browns and QB Deshaun Watson, fans would like to be done talking about the uncertainty of what will happen. While they want what is best for the team and/or fair punishment, closure is a strong desire at this point.
The same may be true for Browns players as well. OL Wyatt Teller, starting at the 45-second mark of the below video, made that clear saying “…we want to know what is going on and be done with it.”
#Browns right guard is eager for the Deshaun Watson saga to be resolved, but he tries to block the distraction out. pic.twitter.com/jDLGICa38L
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) August 5, 2022
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Teller noted that any team would want the same and that he is focused on what he can control primarily.
Yesterday on ESPN Radio, beat reporter Jake Trotter also noted his impression, from one of the team’s starters, that the lack of resolution could be causing negativity:
Something I have been chewing on since this AM driving in to work, on ESPN Radio @Jake_Trotter used either the word “weary” or “wearisome” to describe the impression he got from a Browns player after the NFL appeal of Watson was announced yesterday during practice.
— Jared Mueller (@JaredKMueller) August 4, 2022
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A resolution could be coming by next week but nothing is guaranteed. Roger Goodell has appointed Peter Harvey to hear the appeal. The former New Jersey Attorney General helped the league create its conduct policy and has worked with the league on previous discipline issues.
It is likely that Harvey will come with a tougher discipline sentence for Watson. If Watson and the NFLPA decide to file a lawsuit in federal court, the situation could continue to drag on for much longer.