BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns have no regrets, and if they could do this all over again, they would.
The stain of the sexual misconduct allegations made by two dozen women against Deshaun Watson is well worth it to have Watson help them win games.
Owner Jimmy Haslam gave an impassioned statement about standing behind Watson Thursday after a settlement was reached between Watson and the NFLPA and the NFL on an 11-game suspension and a $5 million fine for multiple violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
“I think in this country – and hopefully in the world, people deserve second chances,” Haslam said. “I really think that, and I struggle [with] a little bit, is he never supposed to play again? Is he never supposed to be part of society? Is he getting no chance to rehabilitate himself? And that’s what we’re going to do. OK? And you can say, ‘Well that’s because he’s a star quarterback.’ Well of course. But if he was Joe Smith, he wouldn’t be on the headlines every day.
“So, we think people deserve a second chance. We gave Kareem Hunt a second chance. OK? And that’s worked out pretty well. OK? We’re hoping this will work out and we have strong belief it will. That doesn’t mean we don’t have empathy for people affected and we will continue to do so, but we strongly believe, strongly believe people deserve a second chance. We believe Deshaun Watson deserves a second chance.”
Haslam said “absolutely” when asked if he was comfortable with Watson being the face of the franchise.