I woudln't get too hung up on them trying to instill morals. That largely only has a measurable impact on the player level, trying to guide young men who may have had various upbringings, and need to learn fairly quickly how to manage income, how to be professionals, how to stay out of trouble, etc. The team, and the NFL, is a financial juggernaut that will continue to make decisions with the bottom line in mind. Even if they do exercise some morality, higher than thou decisions that may not directly lead to profit, they know where their bread is buttered and can withstand losses here/there if it saves face in the public persona. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of Watson fans who are season ticket payers. They sold out that pre-season game as if they were coming off a super bowl season. Texans fans who go to every game are not necessarily representative of the general public... but they are the target demographic of this front office.
Caserio should have taken the pick protections. Watson would have played this year and would have played great. If you guys are so certain he skates on all those charges then the protections never kick in and you end up conveying what you wanted. Caserio thought he was smarter than the pack and held the line, but it backfired on him. Now you have to wait a full year to address this clusterfk and you waste a roster spot doing so. If I were living a devout life to the extents that these guys want us to believe they are - yes cutting him would have sent that exact message. He would have been picked apart as being a dummy and all that, but he would have convinced everyone that his convictions are real.
@Verbal Christ I really appreciate your posts on this. I want to add one thing... what Deshaun did was absolutely criminal. You don't whip it out unless there is consent involved, even if you're covered by a towel. Doing so without consent in any setting is criminal. It's not just a sex addiction or "creepy behavior," it's absolutely constitutes criminality. I don't only root for choir boys... but there is a huge gap between being a "choir boy" and criminal sexual misconduct. Get him TF off the team. Yes... try for the best return, but getting rid of him and the stench he has hovering over our franchise would be an improvement on our current situation, regardless of the return.
I think the biggest issue right now is just there's not a lot of teams this close to the season willing to put their team in a state of flux to accommodate Watson, thus no market. I don't think wasting a roster spot on him matters much for this team. I don't think he's much of a distraction to anybody but the front office that will be constantly asking to comment on the situation. The Texans also know his discretions better than anybody. I do believe there are some things you automatically cut a player for (most things criminal - DV, DUI, etc.), but there is a ton of grey area on these accusations that while disgusting if all true, doesn't automatically lead to incarceration.
What does waiting a year hurt in this scenario? He's not going to jail. This team is playing for nothing. We could waste five roster spots, and it wouldn't matter. Those guys are inactive each week anyways...
Like @Nick said every single press conference starting and ending with a Watson question is getting tiresome. We win a game? "So what about Watson" .. We lose a game? "Would Watson have won it" Incessant and past my ability to internalize and overlook the situation. I can only imagine Culley this year poor guy is going to have his patience tested every single day. Feel sorry for him in that regard since the guy seems to be doing an OK job so far and most of the attention will be on the Watson saga.
That was the plan. I was ready to forego football this year. Then the itch began. My son started prepping for senior year football season, juices started flowing and SPLAT! Right back to loving a team that hates me! Cycle of abuse man - depressing
Since Watson didn't get the trade to Miami, he is going to have a tough time watching this season from the sidelines.
We should tell him that we don't consent to him playing this season, he'd immediately demand to start week 1.
