'My Story's Overshadowed!' Deshaun Watson New Reveal On Sexual Allegations

"That’s part of life. I just grow from it, I learn from it. I continue to move forward and push forward and continue to show my real character, my real personality and who I am.” - Texans ex Deshaun Watson, trying to put his troubles behind him now with the Browns.
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Deshaun Watson is understandably trying to put behind him his troubled times with the Houston Texans, low-lighted by the quarterback being suspended 11 games and fined $5 million by the NFL for allegations of sexual misconduct from more than two dozen massage therapists.

“The whole situation changed me,” said the now-Cleveland Browns star. “In a situation where I just had to lock in on myself, channel and really know who I’m surrounding myself with and just really who’s going to be there and support me even when I’m at my lowest point ... and the last few years were definitely my lowest point in my life.''

Watson was traded in March of 2022 to Cleveland, where he signed a five-year, $230 million contract - the largest guaranteed amount in NFL history. But his reputation remains soiled by his conduct, by the allegations and by the suspension.

“But,'' he said of the struggles, "that’s part of life. I just grow from it, I learn from it. I continue to move forward and push forward and continue to show my real character, my real personality and who I am.”

Before Watson because embroiled in controversy - which included him asking to be traded by Houston even before the misconduct charges - he was considered a model football citizen. He seems to be suggesting here that that reputation is the "real'' Deshaun.

“Things that people don’t really get to hear about,” he said, explaining his conversations on the subject with his Cleveland teammates. “Especially last year, it’s been the media directing and narrating something else. … (My story) has been kind of overshadowed.”

In fairness, his alleged victims do not likely agree with that claim. At the same time, it is understandable why Watson, once considered one of the great young stars in the NFL, chooses to now focus on how he's "feeling really good, comfortable being around the guys, the locker room, the coaching staff, the organization and just the city of Cleveland,” as he said.

Watson made his debut with the Browns late last year after four seasons with the Texans, a time during which he made the Pro Bowl on three occasions and led the NFL in passing with 4,823 yards in 2020.

“Having an opportunity to go into the season with a full offseason, locked in, focused, it definitely feels good,'' Watson said. "And I want to continue to keep channeling and cherishing all that energy and positive energy that’s been spread around this 

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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983, is the Texas-based author of two best-selling books on the NFL.