Ag_07 said:

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What's the point in a draft thread when they don't have any draft picks?

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Fair point... but they do have a few mid / late round picks, right?

Texans terminated their qualifying offer to P.J. Hall

How bad will this have to get for me to be able to exchange my Watson jersey?

Not that there's anyone else's I would want at this time.

Fore Left! said:

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Exchange it for what? A massage?

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Now you're talking!!!!

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/texans-seven-round-2021-nfl-mock-draft-houston-adds-a-new-qb-wr-amid-offensive-uncertainty/

This guy goes on about adding pieces to our 3-4 defense. Is this the CBS writer for the Texans? How embarrassing

oh no said:

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Texan_Aggie said:

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Has anyone else reconsidered whether the whole "dissatisfaction" and public trashing of the org by Watson was an excuse to distract/divert from this potentially coming down the pike?

I think they're mutually exclusive, but timing is a little fishy.

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not in the least. I think his head was so big, he thought he deserved to have input in the GM and HC hires, was pissed that he apparently didn't, and he never once thought his massage game was going to come to light in the public.

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Agreed. If the org had any clue this was coming they would have traded him early.

MaxPower said:

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oh no said:

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Texan_Aggie said:

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Has anyone else reconsidered whether the whole "dissatisfaction" and public trashing of the org by Watson was an excuse to distract/divert from this potentially coming down the pike?

I think they're mutually exclusive, but timing is a little fishy.

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not in the least. I think his head was so big, he thought he deserved to have input in the GM and HC hires, was pissed that he apparently didn't, and he never once thought his massage game was going to come to light in the public.

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Agreed. If the org had any clue this was coming they would have traded him early.

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The news broke before the trade deadline, the team who would've traded for him would have backed out of the trade, before 3/17 when trades were made official.

I'm not so sure they would have. The news just broke the night before and most of the league thought this was much ado about nothing for several days after.

Regardless, they would have at least tried to get a deal in place if they actually knew anything.

Texan_Aggie said:

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MaxPower said:

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I'm not so sure they would have. The news just broke the night before and most of the league thought this was much ado about nothing for several days after.

Regardless, they would have at least tried to get a deal in place if they actually knew anything.

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The news was breaking the day of the trade deadline which could become official at 4 PM EST. You are nave if you think another GM is still trading his future draft capital for a QB the same day 4-6 sexual assault allegations are being filed.

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Also the Texans would have an obligation to put the deal on hold until the matter was cleared up.

Has bilboag been muzzled or wisely decided not to post anything during the controversy? I realized I hadn't seen much from him and noticed he's got 4 posts since the sheet hit the fan march 17 - none of them about watson outside of him rejecting a trade to the panthers.

oh no said:

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Bilbo was on the training staff in charge of scheduling the massage tables...

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Hope he wore gloves.

Buzbee from the top rope -

Quote:

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"But here is my problem: Mr. Hardin, in his press conference, also stated that, from his client's perspective, some or more of these massage interactions with my clients, both licensed and unlicensed therapists, became sexual because they were 'consensual.' NO.

"I can tell you from my clients' perspectives THESE INTERACTIONS WERE NOT CONSENSUAL. 'No' means no. That's all."

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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/04/09/tony-buzbee-fires-back-at-rusty-hardins-claims-on-behalf-of-deshaun-watson/#comments

the local sportsradio guys have been hammering on Watson's "camp" or "crew" including his agent and defense team.

but of course no one knows if Watson was telling them the truth about what he was doing

JCA1 said:

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My guess is Watson wasn't honest with his team and they had no idea what he was up to. Even taking his side of things, it's pretty clear he was setting up dozens of massages in the hopes that it would lead to more. Bet his team didn't know the extent he was doing this and want to choke him now for not telling them.

But regardless, their refusal to try and resolve this quickly and quietly is malpractice. It's not clear that anyone leveled with him on the timeline of this. Even if he wanted to fight it and was actually willing to see it through trial, you're looking at at least 18 months in Harris county right now. Realistically, it's probably more like 2-3 years. There's no way he's going to have the stomach to have this hanging over him for 2-3 years.

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Yup. Remember there was just one woman to begin with. If Watson didn't inform them there could be dozens more and insisted nothing happened then it may have made sense to play hardball. I find it hard to believe his defense wouldn't have tried to settle early had they known the volume. Of course Buzbee may also just be slimy and trying to make it about him by going public and may not have been genuinely interested in settling. We don't really know the full extent of dialog before the suits were filed.

His team did try to settle. The underestimated the full extent of this iceberg. Original claim was $100k for the first. His team agreed to settle for something less as a "learning lesson". My guess is his team had no idea what really happened and probably thought that if it wasn't paid, it'd go no where. Now this has mushroomed into a huge ordeal where he won't be playing football anytime soon.

Texan_Aggie said:

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His team did try to settle. The underestimated the full extent of this iceberg. Original claim was $100k for the first. His team agreed to settle for something less as a "learning lesson". My guess is his team had no idea what really happened and probably thought that if it wasn't paid, it'd go no where. Now this has mushroomed into a huge ordeal where he won't be playing football anytime soon.

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When you don't offer money, you haven't really tried to settle. It's my understanding they never actually offered anything.

They said they were open to settling, but it was in a tone that obviously didn't take it seriously. Buzbee seemed insulted and launched the firestorm.

Texan_Aggie said:

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They said they were open to settling, but it was in a tone that obviously didn't take it seriously. Buzbee seemed insulted and launched the firestorm.

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That is what they said but if you're not talking numbers, it's not settlement talks. They never made an offer. Hard to settle without that.

Doesn't sound like they had any idea who Buzbee was. That was another mistake on their part.

IMHO, Nike cutting ties is real linchpin move that sends Watson south from here on out. Imagine the investigative team they can assemble and turn loose to investigate one of their athletes. If they thought they should give him the benefit of the doubt - and with the extreme racial tensions existing everywhere - they undoubtedly would have.

But the out-and-out "bye-bye" means they dug into it, realized there's plenty of fire behind the smoke, and wanted to disassociate ASAP.

As others have said, when you go from saying nothing happened at all to "well yes, we did some sexing but it was totally consensual", it's all over but the crying. Despite all the wink wink, nod nod stuff we know exists at certain massage parlors and with buying massages off the Internet, you're still taking someone's legit profession and deciding you get to dictate it becoming a sexual encounter. The ritualistic behavior that we get from story after story from the women complaining is the sure sign of an addict, and someone who is desiring power over other people in interactions. He should check into rehab ala Tiger and look like he's trying to get better and admitting this is a problem, will probably make it a lot easier on himself in the long run.