CLEVELAND—On the 300 level of First Energy Stadium, in the concourse a half-hour before kickoff of the Browns’ preseason game, I observed the scene.
In the Cleveland Browns Pro Shop, four jerseys were for sale, two on top of two. Top two: Myles Garrett’s 95 and Nick Chubb’s 24. Bottom two: Denzel Ward’s 21, Deshaun Watson’s 4. I asked a shopper, young woman, if she’d buy a Watson jersey. “Too soon,” she said.
Outside, I posted up to count the passersby for 15 minutes. Of 163 jerseys I counted on fans, I saw Kosar, Manziel, Mayfield, Garrett (the most), Chubb, Beckham Jr., (Jim) Brown, (Joe) Thomas, even an Owusu-Koramoah. Zero Watsons.
Guy passed me in the concourse with a NEXT YEAR DAMMIT Browns T-shirt.
I stopped a 30-ish fan in Browns garb, Quinton from Lorain, Ohio, and asked if he supported the team acquiring Watson. “I thought it was a good deal,” Quinton said. “It’s tricky. On the one hand, he never got found guilty of anything in a court of law, so what do we really know? But I’m conflicted because I feel for the women if something really did happen.”
“City seems divided,” I said.
“It really is,” Quinton said. “Lots of people have strong feelings on both sides.”
“What’ll it be like when Watson plays for the Browns in December?” I asked.
“What do they say? Time heals all wounds? If he wins, it’ll be forgotten.”
South of the city, an architect and former mega-Browns fan, Kyle Marvin, was not as forgiving as Quinton from Lorain. Marvin hates the Watson trade and signing. He ignored the Browns-Eagles game on local TV Sunday. He’s been a religious Browns’ watcher and tailgater, the kind who gets to the tailgate lot at 6 a.m. on gamedays and delights (before Steeler games) in catcalling anyone wearing a Pittsburgh jersey.
“I have loved this team,” Marvin said from his home, “but I will not be a Browns fan this year. It’s going to be hard for me to be a Browns fan again. I’ll watch the NFL on TV, but not the Browns.”
I asked what his biggest issue with Watson and the Browns was.
“The lack of contrition by Watson,” Marvin said. “He continues to lie about what happened. Nobody’s being honest. If he’d just come out and say ‘I’m sorry,’ it’s a different story. And the Browns just keep supporting him.”
Now that the Watson reality has set in—he’ll be suspended for the first 11 games of the season, and fined $5 million, and made to undergo counseling to address what Roger Goodell called “predatory” behavior—closure allows the Browns to plan for the season and Watson to plan for an uncertain future that will include five weeks when he can have no contact with his team.
This, as one person in the middle of this maelstrom told me Sunday, “is a complicated, complicated, complicated story.”
There is closure, but there is not satisfaction. Watson issued a statement when the settlement was announced saying, “I take accountability for the decisions I made.” Shortly thereafter, before the press, he said, “I’ve always stood on my innocence … I never assaulted anyone or disrespected anyone.”
How does one person say—sort of—I’m sorry, and two hours later say, I’m not sorry for anything? It’s disingenuous absurdity. A few things I learned reporting on the Browns:
Watson has begun the league-mandate counseling, a source told me. My sense is the Browns hope that at some point Watson will understand what he either doesn’t understand or a denial he has been continually fed by his enablers—that he did nothing wrong. Very likely, the Browns believe counseling can help Watson get to the bottom of why he sought treatment from 66 massage therapists in 18 months, per the New York Times. That he has begun the counseling is a step in the right direction.
I would expect the Browns will look hard at adding a quarterback to supplement Jacoby Brissett. But tamp down the expectations that Jimmy Garoppolo is on the way. Not…
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