Mr. Scot

Could Watson be totally exonerated? Absolutely. Is that likely to happen before Draft Day? Seriously doubt it.

Three lawsuits filed, three more pending... Does that really sound like something that's likely to get worked out in a matter of a few weeks? Again, something crazy could happen but unless it does, this is probably gonna be going on for a long time.

Court judges do just that, and they kinda have to. Whether it's true or not isn't the point though. This was in response to someone saying that none of the allegations qualify as assault. Forced oral sex would definitely be considered assault.

Barring something totally crazy happening though, is there actually any realistic possibility of Watson being traded to the Panthers (or anywhere else) until this is all played out? I just can't see it.

While I grant that McNair is an idiot, the Texans being behind this really just isn't very credible. I've also seen a couple of people suggest that Tepper did it to drive his trade price down. That's just lunacy. Setting aside the conspiracy theories though, this is an extremely sad and difficult story. Is the lawyer at the center of this a douchebag? Probably. It's more about the women than him though. If they're credible, this is pretty bad for Watson. And if more come forward, it only gets worse. Like I said before, this isn't really about football anymore. It's about the real lives of Watson and the women involved.

I'm giving Phil the benefit of a doubt here, guessing he hadn't seen that particular allegation yet.

Forced oral sex doesn't qualify as assault?

Second accuser owned a massage therapy business.

Yeah, six. Previously there were four but two more have appeared since, and I suppose it's at least possible that there could be more yet (which could be devastating to Watson). I'd say at this point there's not much chance of us (or frankly anybody) trading for him. That ship has probably sailed. Barring something incredibly shocking, this is going to take a while to resolve. Practically speaking, this isn't really a football story anymore. Watson's life is gonna be severely impacted pretty much no matter how this comes out. And of course, if he's guilty, he deserves whatever happens. What a sad mess.

Little doubt at this point that you probably have to trade up to #2 in order to guarantee getting Wilson. That's gonna be a steep price, and for a guy with some potential medical concerns. Love his skill set, but I'm kind of cautious on this idea.

I'd imagine a "shakedown" would have consisted of going to Watson privately and saying "If you don't agree to play for us, we'll make this public". Doing it this way would be like releasing embarrassing pictures of somebody and then going to them and saying "Now pay us not to".

Fair point...

One real helpful thing to understand here folks... This does not benefit the Texans. There were two possible outcomes that would have been good for Houston. One, they get their franchise player back agreeing to play; or two, they get a massive trade package in return for him. It's quite possible that neither of those things happens now. I'd add that if you think David Tepper is some kind of mafia boss / Game of Thrones type master manipulator who's going to somehow use his influence to make all of this just magically go away, you've probably been watching too much TV.

Fisher's injury happened this year and tends to take a while to rehab. I've seen some speculation that he might not play this season.

Even after this?

I could be wrong but I think "can't stay healthy" was a bigger problem for him.

Yeah, probably. I liked this discussion a lot better when it was just about football. Now it's looking like a pretty sad story all around.

The latest filing alleges that Watson forced oral sex. This just went to a new level.

Third suit filed, and this one alleges forced oral sex... Hoo boy...

This is unusual...

Said previously more women coming forward would be bad. It's bad.

Another guy some fans wanted gone elsewhere...

I know when we've got a free agent people naturally suspect Buffalo or Washington will go after them. Buffalo snagged Emmanuel Sanders yesterday, so...

Florio talked about it. Basically said if it was just the one accusation it might not have an effect, but four is another story.