For the first time in nearly two years, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will be in uniform Sunday against his former team, the Houston Texans, returning from an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. If you’re curious to see how Watson, following widespread allegations of sexual misconduct (he’s reached settlements with 23 of his accusers and counting), is received by fans, good luck finding it on local television.
This coverage map, courtesy of 506 Sports, shows the game (broadcast on CBS Sunday at 1 PM ET) will only be available in a handful of media markets, most of them outside Cleveland and greater Houston.
Now let’s get one thing straight—without the context of Watson making his Browns debut, this game would be an absolute snooze-fest between two of the league’s worst teams (combined 5-16-1 record). Still, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what the NFL is up to, doing everything in its power to hide Watson and all the negative PR that is sure to follow him as he returns to football’s biggest stage, relatively free of consequences.
Throughout his scandal, Watson has shown zero in the way of accountability, a trend that continued when the disgraced quarterback ducked the media (who he hasn’t acknowledged since training camp) at Wednesday’s practice. Watson won’t be able to stonewall the press forever, nor will the NFL be able to keep him out of the spotlight by limiting the Browns’ television exposure. It’s an ugly situation and one that ultimately could have been avoided, but here we are, with Watson, an alleged sexual predator signed to one of the largest contracts in NFL history ($230 million, fully guaranteed), back in the huddle for a hopelessly compromised league and organization that sold its soul in the name of entertainment.
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