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Wednesday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, Jonas Knox, Brady Quinn and LaVar Arrington question the timing behind Deshaun Watson's decision to settle 20 of his 24 sexual misconduct cases.
Brady Quinn: "This couldn't have been Deshaun Watson's choice. He's been adamant for the longest time. Was it the NFL? Not necessarily Roger Goodell, but was it someone within the NFL that said, 'If you settled now, we will be able to come out and give you a swifter punishment or then you'll be able to appeal whatever decision we make.'
I know Brian McCarthy, who's the NFL spokesperson, said that's not the case, this has no impact on it. Please, why should we believe anything the NFL has to say on this matter? Not only has things not been transparent in regards to Deshaun Watson and what's happened with any of the 20 settlements now, but nothing's been been transparent with the NFL on that side of things. They haven't been forthcoming with all the information they've gathered or how they feel about what direction they're going. So we're not gonna get any clarity from that side of things, but I do wonder if it was motivated to a degree, at some point the court of public opinion got to him, and they all sat down and said this is only going to get worse if we don't settle these now."
LaVar Arrington: "I just wonder how many more are left out there. The wildcard is we've now been put on notice that at any given point in time, somebody else can pop up.
Brady Quinn: "Because he will settle. He will pay you if it happened."
Jonas Knox: "Is the NFL allowed to pull a player aside or his representatives and say, 'Hey, here's what we're thinking, but if you settle now we're willing to work with you on the amount of punishment you're going to receive?"
Brady Quinn: "What says they can't? They make the rules. There's no governing body over how they're gonna go about punishing this."