Jameis Winston, Myles Garrett provide tone-deaf defense of Deshaun Watson

National Football League

Published Oct. 21, 2024 3:15 p.m. ET

When he stuck up for Deshaun Watson after Sunday’s Bengals–Browns game in Cleveland, Jameis Winston lost sight of what really matters.

Winston appeared to completely forget that there is more to Watson’s life than football, namely the 24 lawsuits and 30 accusers who have alleged sexual misconduct by Watson. The embattled quarterback has settled more than 20 of those lawsuits.

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

“The way I was raised, I was taught to love no matter the circumstances, especially with people who do right by you,” Winston said. “I’m grateful to have the chance to serve Deshaun. But I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years. And he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day.”

Watson is not a victim. I don’t care that Winston was upset over Browns fans cheering. (That, too, was wrong. But not comparable.) Winston has to see the forest for the trees.

The reason Watson “has had the world against him for the past four years” is simple: He is facing lawsuits for allegedly sexually assaulting women. To make matters more complicated, Winston faced accusations of raping a woman in 2012.

Winston’s sympathy for Watson doesn’t just fall on deaf ears. It’s tone-deaf. It’s offensive.

It’s the mistake that the football world so often makes: forgetting this is just a game.

Watson can do his job at the highest level. He can be a great teammate. He could be a great quarterback. And it won’t absolve him from the accusations levied against him.

Browns defensive end Myles Garrett only made things worse when asked about fans cheering.

“No one deserves that,” Garrett said, via Awful Announcing, postgame. “I’ve seen him work his ass off to get back here and put a smile on his face and try to put everything that’s outside the facility behind him. Death threats, [people] come to his house. People going after his family. Like I said, no one deserves that. I hate using the word deserve. I’m usually consistent saying earned. He hadn’t earned it, and he doesn’t deserve it.

“Man does pretty much everything right. A model citizen through college and also the pros. Plays the game as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen. Puts everything on the line, willing to throw his body out there. He plays the game at 100 miles an hour, and there’s a risk of being injured, and he took that risk. We have to be there for him as a team and as an organization. We can’t look down on a guy because of any mistakes on the field or anything off the field. We don’t have any moral high ground to look down on the guy.”

It’s just as tone-deaf.

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

It all goes downhill at: “Man does pretty much everything right.” Because at that point, you’ve lost all credibility. According to 30 different women, Watson allegedly broke the law. That supersedes the things the guy did right on the Texans and Browns’ practice fields. He can’t be a “model citizen” if those 30 women are telling the truth.

Ultimately, Watson likely won’t be the Browns’ problem anymore.

Cleveland has to be thinking about getting rid of him. And when it happens, it’ll be no credit to the Browns. They acquired him in a trade that involved three first-round picks. They guaranteed him $230 million. They decided to build their franchise around Watson. And because of how deeply they invested in Watson — the worst and (by many measurements) the largest transaction in the history of the NFL — they’ve let the whole thing drag on for so long that the players clearly don’t know how to make sense of any of it.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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