The Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson are in a sordid mess. The civil suit brought against him has raised more questions and those giving answers have given confusing ones.
On Wednesday, Watson said he did not know the lawsuit was coming. Kevin Stefanski said he was not aware of the allegations before the civil suit was filed on Monday.
Tony Buzbee, Jane Doe's attorney, issued a statement also on Wednesday. It said that he reached out to Rusty Hardin, Watson's attorney for 10 months seeking a private resolution to this case. According to Buzbee, Watson's team did not give this case the attention it was due. As a result, the civil suit was filed.
Buzbee said that Watson is "well aware of what he did" and knew about the victim and her claims immediately after the incident occurred. Buzbee went on to say "Watson was again reminded back when we filed the first lawsuit for the other multiple victims."
Neither Watson nor the Browns admit to knowing about something that by Buzbee's account was spoken of and known for a substantial amount of time.
How can the Browns put Watson on the field amid so many distractions? The difference between March 2022 when the trade happened and now is that the Browns are in season and expected to perform at a high level. It seems impossible to do that given the circumstances.