In the past 12 months, Deshaun Watson has faced 22 civil lawsuits, but that number rose to 23 this week when a new lawsuit was filed in Texas.
When the new lawsuit was filed Tuesday, it included an interesting tidbit: Apparently, Watson offered $100,000 to each plaintiff in an effort to settle each of the 22 lawsuits he faced. It was already known that settlement talks had taken place around the trade deadline last season, but it was unclear how much Watson was offering to settle each case.
As first reported by Pro Football Talk, there is a note in the most recent lawsuit that mentions the settlement offer. The last lawsuit is 11 pages and hidden on the second page was a note about the settlement offer.
Here’s what the notation says: “We now know that Deshaun Watson offered each plaintiff $100,000 to settle their case, but not all would accept that amount, due to the aggressive nondisclosure agreement. [NDA] that Watson’s team came up with.”
The notation was added by Tony Buzbee, who represents each of the 23 plaintiffs. Buzbee is the attorney for the 22 women involved in the settlement talks and he is also representing the woman who filed her lawsuit this week.
So why would Watson make a settlement offer if he insists he’s innocent? Here’s a look at how the offer relates to everything that’s happened over the past nine months:
- It seems that this offer was made around October. In January, one of the women in the case offered a copy of the NDA to The Daily Beast. The woman never signed the NDA, which said Watson would be willing to pay her $100,000 to sign her sometime in October. At the time, it was unclear whether the offer was fair to her or made to the other women. Based on court documents released this week, it appears the offer was made to all 22 women.
- Why did Watson’s team want an NDA? Watson’s attorney recently explained that the only reason he was looking to get the women to sign an NDA was because the Miami Dolphins wanted them. The Dolphins were trying to make a trade for Watson in October and according to multiple reports at the time, they were only going to complete the deal if Watson reached a settlement with the 22 women who had filed a lawsuit. In the end, only 18 of the 22 women agreed, which caused the trade to explode and take the settlement off the table as it was an all or nothing deal.
- Tony Buzbee says NDA ruined settlement talks. After the trade deadline, Buzbee said aggressive NDAs were what killed the deal, “In what came before us were non-disclosure agreements and a lot of women pushed them back,” Buzbee said in November. Buzbee specifically called NDAs a “deal breaker” during that same interview.
Basically, it looks like Watson’s camp offered the $100,000 settlement to each plaintiff to facilitate a trade with the Dolphins, which tells you how close a trade was to happen. Had all 22 women accepted Watson’s settlement offer, it’s possible Watson could be playing for the Dolphins right now, but four of the women pushed back and refused to sign.
As things stand, Watson still faces 23 civil lawsuits. In the meantime, the NFL is completing its investigation into the Browns quarterback, an investigation that should be completed soon, according to commissioner Roger Goodell.
“I think we’re nearing the end of the investigation period,” Goodell said at the League’s May 24 spring meeting. “Then it will be handled by our disciplinary officer.”
Although the investigation is expected to be completed in the near future, Goodell did not give a timeline for an eventual announcement of the findings where the league would reveal whether or not Watson faces punishment.