Speaking purely strategically, Watson’s biggest liability in all of this is Watson. I don’t know about any of you but he was, how shall we say,.. less than confidence inspiring in his Browns introductory press conference. He said several things that on their face just really strained any and all credibility. I understand there may be some women in that group that are in a feeding frenzy and I know that he wants to defend himself against some probably dubious claims amongst others that may well not be dubious but as others have pointed out, the sheer volume of the claims and his, frankly speaking, very poor ability to advocate on his own behalf in a convincing and credible fashion makes the specter of drawn out trial(s) a nightmare for everyone excluding the press and the lawyers.

I understand that settling creates an impression of guilt but time is his and the Browns’ true enemy here. The faster he gets it behind him and everyone can change the narrative a little bit the better, period. I really can’t conceive a scenario where he comes out of this smelling ok. Even if every case goes to trial and he wins them all most educated people know that these sorts of cases are stacked against the accuser. Even if he loses some or several of them, his defenders will still rationalize. He and the At this point, baring some massive revelation, few are going to change thier minds. They’re just going to get sufficiently distracted and (he and Browns hope) just let it go.

Not speaking strategically but personally, I’m too old for this. I don’t think if the Browns win the SB next year (which it’ll have to be before the cap sacrifices start come en masse) it would mean nearly as much for me. It would have a big asterisk. The Browns, for all their ineptitude and warts, have always been solidly the good guys in my mind. It’s just very hard to come back to the team after this. I’ll always follow them (as evidenced by my still popping off here on occasion) but I don’t think I can don the jersey. I promise you it’s not virtue signaling or holier than thou stuff, it’s just that I’m too old and know too much about how this usually goes and ok, maybe I do feel a need to hold a Higher standard. There really is more than just winning.