Mr. Scot

Unless the apology is just ass covering.

Okay dude, really? Wow!

I still can't believe people are talking about the idea og the Texans doing this to get him to play for them. "We've trashed your reputation and possibly ruined your career. Now play for us!" Yeah, good strategy If they had wanted to blackmail him, they would have threatened to release all this stuff behind the scenes. If they had wanted to hurt him, they would have gone ahead and traded him for the biggest trade deal they could get, then let out what happened. These scenarios some people are suggesting would be like someone releasing embarrassing photographs of a public figure, then coming to them afterward and saying "now pay me not to publish those".

I'll take the risk of "looking like a beta" over being accused of rape, or actually committing one, pretty much ten times out of ten.

Women already have an extremely difficult time with sexual assault cases as it is. You really think it should be tougher?

I think the language of the lawsuits puts it all under the term "sexual assault" but only one of them so far indicates an actual sex act (forced oral sex). The other allegations mostly involve exposing himself, unwanted touching, a forced kiss and attempts to force women to touch his penis.

Reports say he turned down more money from a couple of other teams.

That'd be a shame, but I understand. Roaring Riot used to limit himself almost exclusively to the All Pro forum when that still existed.

Aaron Wilson with an update. Teams are still interested conditional on his being exonerated, but they (wisely) want to see how this case turns out before proceeding. Excerpt from the article... The Eagles are among those teams along with the Panthers, Jets, Dolphins, 49ers and Broncos, according to sources.

I'm not sure how much of this thread you've read, but there's definitely some parts you might not want to.

Also odd...

Might be the perception that he's a little bit of a loose cannon. I know Steve Smith ripped him pretty good last year.

True, and a lot of successful ones are a--holes (I say this as someone who's met my fair share). Heck, in some cases - like if you're going up against a rich, famous, super popular person - you might need somebody who's a little bit full of sh-t. A more sober, cautious attorney could suggest just settling for whatever you can get (or just dropping it entirely) whereas a bombastic a--hole might turn it into a personal crusade. As to the attorney in this case, he's definitely not somebody I'd want to work with, but it's not my situation.

Good statement...

There are people's real lives involved here, including Watson's. I can't understand anyone's top priority in a situation like that still being football.

Here's a surprise. It is reported to be only a one-year deal.

We seem to be a very depressed bunch

Heck, two or three different trades have gone down this year with just a swap of picks. Not sure we could get something like that in this case. Don't really know that much about him or why he's seeking a trade.

I can understand having reasonable doubts in cases like this, but if your whole rationale basically boils down to "I don't believe them because I want Deshaun to play for the Panthers", you seriously need to ask yourself some questions.

Another potential option... I'd have to see his contract, but it's hard to imagine he's making as much as Kyle Fuller was.

Seriously

As was previously asked, all nine of them? Worth noting that yhey're risking a lot more than their license. Win or lose, pretty good chance their lives are never going to be the same after this. People's identities do often come out in stories like this, and death threats typically follow. And to be real, do you actually think "paid escorts" would go through the court system where their professions would be a point of evidence? Back channel contacts threatening to go public if they didn't get paid, maybe. The court system? A lot less likely. I'd add too that knee jerk reactions like "just a bunch of sluts trying to get paid" are pretty embarrassing. Watson may or may not be guilty, but we should all at least be mature enough to see what happens.

Not sure who's "excited" (except maybe Sizzlebuzz) but this is way beyond being just a football story. Frankly, it's a pretty terrible story overall. The football part of it is the least concern. As Ellis pointed out, somebody winds up hurt in all this. Maybe it's an innocent guy. Maybe it's a group of victimized women. Who knows... but it's all pretty nasty either way. That's not really something anybody should be "excited" about.

I don't know that I'd bet on us overpaying anybody this offseason.

Again, some of the women involved in this story are state licensed massage therapists. As was pointed out, that's not an easy thing to become. And if it were true, that would be a pretty easy thing to figure out.