A Harris County (Texas) grand jury did not indict Deshaun Watson on Friday. The Texans quarterback will not face criminal charges related to the accusations of sexual assault and harassment.
While the veteran QB’s civil cases are not closed, this represents a positive development for his prospects of continuing his career. Watson remains in trade rumors, and Friday’s decision will surely lead to those intensifying. Interested teams understandably awaited this decision, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets the market should accelerate quickly.
“After a Harris County grand jury was presented all the evidence and had the opportunity to hear from all witnesses, grand jurors declined to indict Deshaun Watson,” said Dan Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “Grand jury proceedings are secret by law, so no information related to their inquiry may be disclosed.”
The NFL is still investigating the Pro Bowl passer as well, and a suspension may well come out of this. But the biggest hurdle Watson faced in this saga is now clear. The 26-year-old standout could soon see his wish to exit Houston granted as well, in what promises to be one of the biggest trades in NFL history.
Twenty-two women accused Watson of sexual assault and/or sexual misconduct, with the allegations stemming from massage therapy sessions. Nine of those accusers proceeded with criminal complaints. This led to the Texans shelving him for the 2021 season. The NFL did not place Watson on the commissioner’s exempt list, but the Clemson product has not played since Week 17 of the 2020 campaign. Despite the inactivity, the Texans are expected to land a considerable haul from interested parties. With multiple teams still in the mix here, Houston’s ask of three first-round picks and change could be on the table soon.
The Buccaneers, Panthers and Seahawks are believed to be interested in Watson. The Eagles did extensive homework on the embattled QB last year, and Watson has been connected to the Vikings as well. A few teams bowed out of the slow-moving sweepstakes. The Giants are expected to pass here, as are the Steelers. The Broncos moved to acquire Russell Wilson, and the Dolphins — the team most closely connected to Watson ahead of last year’s deadline — closed the door on a Watson trade. It will be interesting to see if Miami resurfaces here, but GM Chris Grier said just days ago the team has moved on.
Houston did not entertain trade talks for Watson for most of the 2021 offseason but did discuss its disgruntled starter with the Dolphins and Panthers ahead of last year’s deadline. Watson only waived his no-trade clause for the Dolphins. If they are truly out, he will need to reconsider his options. Multiple teams were believed to have offered three first-rounders, even amid the turmoil engulfing the QB, last year. That would be a good sign for the Texans’ trade ask, now that Watson is not facing prison time.
I wonder how many seconds it took for them to get a call from the Panthers.
Faster than a speeding bullet or happy ending.
1 bullet dodged. 50 Civil cases to go.
How can NFL suspend Watson if they only fined Bob Kraft for being caught on tape having sex during a massage? That would be a huge double standard…
Owners get treated differently.
Of course players and owners are going to face different standards, but also, suspending Roethlisberger despite no felony convictions would be the more accurate comp here.
Well no one complained about lending Bob a hand even knowing his net worth. 22 women had an issue with the way Watson propositioned them. That’s the difference. Watsons situation seems more of a forced sexual assault and Bob’s less so. Watson actively sought out these girls ok IG.
To be fair, the larger issue in the Kraft case was that the women were trafficked and forced into sex work, which means consent isn’t really consent. But he had plausible deniability about knowing that. But yeah, Watson willfully engaging directly in non-consensual behavior is different (especially because the public tends to have a harder time seeing sex workers as victims).
Watson actually sought out these girls? Like Kraft didn’t? Do you think Kraft went to the place expecting to get a cheeseburger?
Cheeseburger n Pepsi
So you’re comparing one paid ZJ for Kraft to 22 allegations of non-consenual sexual misconduct for Watson? Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Total double standard, bro. Very smart comparison.
Apples and oranges. Bob went to a whorehouse massage parlor and got exactly what he paid for from women doing exactly what they wanted to be paid to do. Watson sexually assaulted and forced himself on many women that were trained masseuses hired to give professional massages not happy endings. Not even close to each other.
Kraft got caught up in a trafficking scandal, though. If just seeing sex workers were a deal breaker for owning an NFL team, Paul Allen would have never owned the Seahawks.
Right, because a grand jury just No Billed him on every count in essence saying there is not enough there to even go to trial.
Watson could’ve settled – but he didn’t. And he’s not settling in the civil case and won’t take the 5th. So you can say that he did all you want but the grand jury, the prosecutors, and state law just publicly disagreed with you.
But hey…what do they know, right?
Allegedly
Well according to law enforcement he didn’t sexually assault anyone. Suggesting otherwise is baseless
No according to low enforcement they don’t have enough evidence to convict. Much different than innocent
Under law, it’s called innocent until proven guilty. He was never ‘guilty’ – he’s innocent until proven otherwise.
He was no-billed, much different than being indicted, charged, arrested, and being found “not guilty.” There was not even enough evidence to meet the “probable cause” threshold.
Kraft was not on tape “long time”
NFL typically does not suspend players for civil lawsuits. They will if indicted, regardless of being convicted. Watson was no-billed. There will be no suspension for that.
They suspend players for bringing shame on the shield, regardless of verdict. He’s going to get suspended.
The shield brings shame on itself constantly and still acts like it has some type of integrity or honor to it.
8-10 games would be my guess
The difference is Kraft went to a happy ending spa whereas Watson is accused of sexually assaulting 22 massage therapists that were just trying to work.
Can anybody call what Kraft does sex anymore? I mean if his implant bulb gets a leak he’s through.
Does missing all of last year get considered as a suspension/missing time?
To my knowledge, no. So my guess is he’ll get some sort of suspension. Maybe 3-4 games depending the NFLs investigation findings.
More like an 8 game suspension
He wasn’t officially suspended or told he couldn’t play, right? The Texans just chose not to play him. So I doubt he would get credit for ‘time served’.
he was benched, not suspended
We live in such a terrible world when people like him get away with sexual acts
Watson 3:16
Austin 3:16 says I hope he breaks both his legs and many more bones this season. Those women deserve justice even if it’s in a childish way
And that’s the bottom line cause stone cold said so
Right… cause you were there. You know what ‘really’ happened. Everybody else is wrong but youuuui … you KNOW what happens. BWAHAHA.
Gotta love the mute button so you can mute tools like this guy disappear. Bye bye rocky let me just stunner your ass go oblivion
It’s funny seeing “SCSA”, noted women abuser, standing up for the women.
STone Cold Steve Austin beat the $# it out of his wife and she divorced his azzz for it. So yeah, I guess you do know something about assault on women. Mute that hypocrite.
lets see if he wins the civil case(s). i doubt it if he’s really guilty.
He will settle all these cases out of court for less than a game check. It’s all about $$$ at this point
He pay his way out of them and move on without a trial. He would’ve avoided much of this to begin with had he been writing checks.
They just said he’s not settling with anyone on anything.
Well he is dumber than thought. What he’ll save on payouts he’ll pay his attorney threefold.
I agree – the smartest thing would’ve been to pay off, NDA’s all around, play football. But he had a chance to settle to avoid the grand jury and he refused. He even spoke publicly today. He ain’t gonna settle, IMO.
You doubt he is really guilty? You “really” think 20 plus women all conspired to lie about Watson? That is gross.
I doubt it, but after the DeAndre Baker situation i always reserve a fraction of a percent chance for “maybe this is collusion”.
A grand jury is ONLY the prosecution and even after hearing JUST the attack of the prosecutor and the most intimate details of the case, the grand jury ‘really’ did come to that conclusion.
But yeah, I guess the app chat lawyer knows more than the people who HEARD the prosecutor ONLY evidence. SMH
A simple yes would have done. You think that all of these women are liars and Watson has been wrongfully accused. I question the legal system and the integrity of the grand jury and you question the integrity of all 22 accusers and their lawyers. Just because something cannot be proved beyond doubt or sufficient evidence does not exist (in this case a person’s word against another’s) doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Great One is on the record as a Watson Boy. I’m on the record as not.
A simple yes would’ve done? Man, nothing’s going your way tonight.
Okay, in your diatribe you state how a person should be jailed because of ‘the odds’ of them lying? Are you out of your mind or just…some woke liberal who bases all of his decisions on ‘like…what’s like…like right and stuff’?
It’s a court of law – go take your 22 people – read a little – find out the correct # (And then make up something for WHY some of them decided to not pursue this) and then come back here, repost, tell us all that you believe that as long as the ‘odds’ feel right – that’s enough to convict!
You’re that dude who puts people in jail because your ‘gut’ tells you something. Wow. Lucky for us, you obviously have no law experience.
Read this slowly – The CAPS are for emphasis – don’t be ‘offended’ bc nobody is screaming at you – it’s okay. Just read this: THE LAW SAYS YOU ARE WRONG but the LAW allows you to ‘feel’ however the hell you want to. Just as long as you know that EVERYONE INVOLVED from the prosecutor who is trying to convict him to the GRAND JURY who ALL listened to evidence that you HAVE NOT heard 1/10 of… they ALL stated on the LEGAL RECORD that YOU are mistaken and that YOU are wrong even though your ‘like emotions are like…he so like suuuuper guilty.’
BTW – liberals don’t use the word ‘boy’ – your emotions are really getting the best of you. Go night night…. (And dreeeeeam about him being guilttttttyyy bc when you wake up, you’ll still be wrong!) BWAHAHA!! fact.
I didn’t read any of that. You seem upset. It’s like this…not guilty does not mean innocent. I didn’t say put him in jail. I said he did what those girls said he did, and I would not want him on my football team or my city or near my loved ones.
Yeah, you read it. And no, I’m not mad at all.
And you keep saying ‘not innocent’ all you want but at no time was he found guilty of anything. He has never lost his innocent status. Period. End of story. I support your right to call him names, say whatever you want about him… I AM NOT SAYING that he did/did not do anything.
I am speaking about the law – period. Woke allowances can not supersede the law. IDK what happened… I DO know that the people that wanted to convict him said there was not enough evidence.
End of story.
The standard for a grand jury is “reasonable belief,” which is much lower than the standard to convict, “beyond a reasonable belief.” The fact the prosecutorial team could not even reach the “reasonable belief” standard with 9 of 12 grand jury members, without hearing from the defense, should signal there is more to the story.
They will never make it to the courtroom. He will settle out of court.
Howie Roseman will overpay for Watson. He has 3 first round picks and will pay any price Houston asked for. Sad.
Seattle should pull a real life “Draft Day” scenario. Trade all the picks and players they got from Denver, then throw in a couple more number 1’s or 2’s from the next few years for Watson.
And have no offensive line or pretty much anything on defense?
Maybe they could “massage” their way into the playoffs?
Would you expect to see a lot of hand ….offs?
I’ll offer to host the bonfire of Seahawks gear if Seattle trades a legend for a serial sexual predator.
i’ll donate my largent, easley,alexander and sherman jerseys..you cannot, however, have my Zorn.
Make sure you have a frank Clark, t.jackson and Brandon browner jersey in there. Russell’s ex wife won’t be able to attend due to a NDA
No they shouldn’t.
Saints bounty needs to come back and take this guy out of the game forever
Dude you’re startin to sound like your chick was one of the massage girls. Wtf – this is YOUR fight? Go donate – it’ll help with your Watson obsession.
This is for all men to stand up and say gross we don’t want you. That was somebodies daughter or sister. Go ahead and take advantage of any women that I don’t directly know. Way to keep it classy Great One!
There were NO CHARGES filed- not by police – not buy the grand jury. Period. Thats all you need to know factually. Opinion wise you can call him whatever you want, say whatever you want – but according to the law that you live under, YOUR PEERS just saw every piece of evidence and said you cant take him to court based on this evidence. YOUR peers said that – YOU were not there – YOU do not know the evidence. YOU are the dude who types a character assault from a tiny keyboard in the corner and calls someone you dont know a sexual assault’er’.
I’m saying I believe the women. I don’t owe Watson anything. People that live in Texas are not my peers. Just because “you can’t take him to court” doesn’t make him innocent. I have read the statements from these women and if they are 25% true then gross. You and your peers can think whatever you want. I can call him whatever I want based on the facts that I have. He is not the victim.
Yes, you can hope and dream all you want for his guilt. You should give them your evidence because all the evidence here with Texas, the FBI, the Houston Police Dept. and the TEXAS GRAND FREAKIN JURY ALL said…. Again… ALL said they found NO EVIDENCE to pursue charges.
You say, there were 22 people. I say, and you’re telling me NOT ONE of them had enough evidence to even warrant a freakin MISDEMEANOR? Are you kidding me? I could file a misdemeanor charge against your stupidity on this thread alone. But they couldnt get ONE?
At some point, your pride has got to defend your lack of logic and lack of legal sense. I mean, leave that Liberal world and drive 55 or something. Good grief, Charlie! LOL!!
Not hoping for guilt. Wish none of the statements that I read were true. I just believe they are.
So you also believe that when the entire grand jury said there wasn’t even the slightest bit of reasonable belief of guilt, which is what they must find, that those Americans were ALL lying.
You believe everyone of the accusers but NONE of the dozen or so grand jury members? They were… lying? Right?
Kraft was on tape twice for receding pleasure from a supposed massage therapist. He could have frequented the parlor far more…
In the Watson case there is no video tape and now no criminal charges. Yes there are twenty two civil cases but we also heard last year in November around 17 or 18 we’re willing to settle. Some requests beyond a normal massage likely took place but we don’t know. In the Kraft case there was actual video showing Kraft releasing bodily fluids.
I can see a suspension because he is a player but the other owners were kind to Kraft as they wanted his situation shoved under the rug as quickly as possible…
The women didn’t accuse Kraft of sexual assault that’s the difference.
$$$
Sports star entitlement strikes again. Escaped charges like Kobe beat a rape rap.
Kobe? Sure. How about Jameis Winston or Ben Roethlisberger.
Jameis and Ben doing the same thing doesn’t make Kobe innocent.
That wasn’t my point at all. Just saying that there are two NFL QB’s that are known predators so the switch to the NBA was weird. It isn’t just sports stars. It’s movie stars, entertainers, news anchors, and politicians. It is pervasive in our culture and gross no matter where it comes from. #NotDefendingKobe
Maybe you should actually read about the Kobe situation before just running your mouth son
The only reason Kobe didn’t go to court is because the 19 year girl was getting death treats, which made her get really sick so she called it off and they settled out of court.
If Kobe was innocent he wouldn’t have paid her a dime but just like Watson Kobe was a pos and the world is much better without him. It’s a disgrace they’re building a statue of him outside staples center
We all agree that Kobe is as gross as the rest of them. I don’t see any mouth running. Take it down a notch…son!
Son I’m about to stomp a mud hole in your ass. When it comes to people like Kobe or Watson there is no take it down a notch til they get the penalty that any of us would face for the same situation
And that’s the bottom line cause stone cold said so
No need to take it down in notch for Kobe or Watson. There is no disagreement. I’m glad you are on my side!
I bet you like those ‘mud holes’ don’t cha boy. Sueeeeeeeyyy.
You watch wrastlin… with your mom… you got ‘rubbed’ the wrong way.
Can you smelllllll the rock just cooked your a$$. Go play with your own ‘mud hole’. BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Karl Marx the wanna be socialist just said y’all were on the same side. Y’all are ******** ******* *** ********* BWAHAHAHA!
Really? Cause Watson DIDNT pay them anything you redneck hick. I know you read this cause you’re a p*$$y who types away on his mommy’s keyboard. Your mom should’ve never ‘rubbed’ you the wrong way boy. Poor wife is prolly the REAL stone cold….. brrrrrrr…… gtfo damf
i like pizza, do you?
Pizza is awesome my dude!
It’s been a lot of free passes given. No accountability!! It’s a different set of rules depending on who you are. Seen posts about Kobe/Ben, and both guilty as charged but diff outlook/perception. $hit our last Commander in Chief…
Not talking politics just standards
22 counts and he’s off like a prom dress…
…This guy’s a not a QB, he’s a superman of legal proportions.
Faster than a speeding bullet
Stronger than a locomotive
Smoother than all the lawyers in Texas boiled down into a massaging ointment
Ladies and gentlemen your next starting QB for the ….wait for it……
Twenty-two accusers and a grand jury, said to be able to indict a ham sandwich, quickly dismissed this nonsense. Just because you feel dirty in the morning because you made a bad decision doesn’t make it a crime nor the rest of our problem, and shame on all of you clowns who indulge such nonsense. When 22 out of 22 of them said he didn’t force me to do anything, everyone should have said next question.
Actually only 9 cases were presented. Likely the others wanted no part of testifying in a potential criminal trial.
They did when they thought he was going to settle. One of the accusers said she was worried by something he said and then scheduled another appointment. That’s just not sexual assault.
Congratulations, you win FanBoy of the Year! And you hitched your wagon to a first rate citizen.
The Seahawks are not bringing in Watson.
they signed Mychal Kendricks didnt they?
Did you just compare a dude accused of 22 sexual assaults to a guy who was accused of insider trading?
Watson should sue the NFL for this garbage. They didn’t find any reason to continue the legal case based on evidence?
Sue the NFL? They had absolutely zero to do with him sexually assaulting girls and nothing to do with him not playing. And he said he was done playing in Houston before the accusations came out.
No according to low enforcement they don’t have enough evidence to convict. Much different than innocent
That’s handy for him!
Our legal system is nutty. There is not enough evidence to even take this thing to trial, yet he can still get sued over a crime that, once again, there was no evidence it actually took place. What’s even more ridiculous is if he stands his ground and all the civil suits are thrown out of court then the NFL can, and probably will, suspend him regardless.
My head hurts.
Not having enough evidence to convince a unanimous jury BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT =/= “no evidence”.
“Everything I don’t understand is stupid!!!”
OK twink, calm down.
“Everyone smarter than me is gay!!!”
I literally laughed out loud at that comment!
Don’t let this distract you from the fact that this is the same league that just suspended a player for a season for betting while on “leave” … puffing out its chest while peaching integrity and perception of impropriety
Watson may or may not be guilty but the NFL is a self-serving POS
stanton100,
I mean outside of them being human trafficking victims, no biggie.
If women were legal citizens in Texas, maybe the word of 22 of them might carry as much weight as one man.
Wow. All I can (and will) say on this is…I can’t believe they allowed comments on this story, and haven’t closed them after reading way too many of them.