Browns defensive end Myles Garrett defended quarterback Deshaun Watson today and chastised fans who booed Watson as he was carted off the field with an Achilles injury.
During his post-game press conference, Garrett defended Watson not only as a player but also as a person, despite the long list of women who have accused Watson of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
“Man does pretty much everything right. He’s been a model citizen through college and also the pros,” Garrett said. “We can’t look down on the guy because of any mistakes on the field, or anything off the field. We don’t have any moral high ground to look down on the guy.”
But calling Watson “a model citizen” flies in the face of everything that came out about him in 2021, when 22 different women came forward and said he obtained their services for therapeutic massages and then sexually assaulted or sexually harassed them. Watson was not criminally charged, but he settled the women’s lawsuits and the NFL’s investigation found those accusations credible enough to suspend him for the first 11 games of the 2022 season and fine him $5 million.
Garrett wants his teammates to be supported when they’re injured, and he found it distasteful to hear some fans booing while Watson was on the ground and then being taken off the field with what looked like a season-ending injury.
“We don’t boo guys that are injured on the field, especially when the cart comes out,” Garrett said. “We should be ashamed of ourselves, as Browns and as fans, to boo anyone in their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury, the man’s not perfect, he doesn’t need to be. None of us expect to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does on the field or off the field because I can’t throw stones from my glass house, but we need to do better.”
It’s understandable that Garrett never wants to hear boos for an injured player, but to claim that Watson can’t be judged for his actions off the field doesn’t hold much water in light of everything we’ve learned about Watson’s off-field actions. It’s fair for Garrett to say Watson shouldn’t be booed for his poor play on the field when he’s suffering from a serious injury, but fans are well within their rights to boo Watson for everything they know about him off the field.