Jameis Winston, Myles Garrett present tone-deaf protection of Deshaun Watson

by Christina S. Brown
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When he caught up for Deshaun Watson after Sunday’s Bengals-Browns recreation in Cleveland, Jameis Winston overlooked what actually issues. 

Winston appeared to utterly neglect that there’s extra to Watson’s life than soccer, specifically the 24 lawsuits and 30 accusers who’ve alleged sexual misconduct by Watson. The embattled quarterback has settled greater than 20 of these lawsuits.

Winston, a Cleveland backup, spoke passionately about Watson after he went down with a torn Achilles and Browns followers cheered in celebration at seeing the QB injured.

“The way in which I used to be raised, I used to be taught to like regardless of the circumstances, particularly with individuals who do proper by you,” Winston mentioned. “I am grateful to have the possibility to serve Deshaun. However I’m very upset with the response to a person that has had the world in opposition to him for the previous 4 years. And he put his physique and life on the road for this metropolis each single day.”

Watson isn’t a sufferer. I do not care that Winston was upset over Browns followers cheering. (That, too, was mistaken. However not comparable.) Winston has to see the forest for the timber.

The rationale Watson “has had the world in opposition to him for the previous 4 years” is straightforward: He’s going through lawsuits for allegedly sexually assaulting ladies. To make issues extra sophisticated, Winston confronted accusations of raping a lady in 2012.

Winston’s sympathy for Watson would not simply fall on deaf ears. It is tone-deaf. It is offensive.

It is the error that the soccer world so typically makes: forgetting that is only a recreation.

Watson can do his job on the highest degree. He is usually a nice teammate. He might be an ideal quarterback. And it will not absolve him from the accusations levied in opposition to him.

Browns defensive finish Myles Garrett solely made issues worse when requested about followers cheering.

“Nobody deserves that,” Garrett mentioned, by way of Terrible Asserting, postgame. “I’ve seen him work his ass off to get again right here and put a smile on his face and attempt to put the whole lot that is exterior the ability behind him. Loss of life threats, [people] come to his home. Folks going after his household. Like I mentioned, nobody deserves that. I hate utilizing the phrase deserve. I am normally constant saying earned. He hadn’t earned it, and he would not deserve it.

“Man does just about the whole lot proper. A mannequin citizen via faculty and in addition the professionals. Performs the sport as arduous as anybody I’ve ever seen. Places the whole lot on the road, prepared to throw his physique on the market. He performs the sport at 100 miles an hour, and there is a danger of being injured, and he took that danger. Now we have to be there for him as a crew and as a company. We won’t look down on a man due to any errors on the sphere or something off the sphere. We have no ethical excessive floor to look down on the man.”

It is simply as tone-deaf. 

Ought to followers’ reactions to Deshaun Watson harm be known as out?

Should fans' reactions to Deshaun Watson injury be called out?

All of it goes downhill at: “Man does just about the whole lot proper.” As a result of at that time, you have misplaced all credibility. In keeping with 30 totally different ladies, Watson allegedly broke the legislation. That supersedes the issues the man did proper on the Texans and Browns’ follow fields. He cannot be a “mannequin citizen” if these 30 ladies are telling the reality.

Finally, Watson probably will not be the Browns’ drawback anymore.

Cleveland needs to be occupied with eliminating him. And when it occurs, it will be no credit score to the Browns. They acquired him in a commerce that concerned three first-round picks. They assured him $230 million. They determined to construct their franchise round Watson. And due to how deeply they invested in Watson — the worst and (by many measurements) the biggest transaction within the historical past of the NFL — they’ve let the entire thing drag on for therefore lengthy that the gamers clearly do not know the way to make sense of any of it.

Previous to becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years protecting the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Observe him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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