Will NFL delay action against Deshaun Watson…

The Ben Roethlisberger precedent suggests that Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson faces a suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy, even though he ultimately faced no criminal charges. Rarely does the NFL allow its decisions to be bound by precedent.

In the 12 years since the Roethlisberger case, the NFL has learned a valuable lesson regarding its decision-making process regarding off-field misconduct. Don’t take action until you absolutely, positively have to.

That approach already has played out in Watson’s case via the decision not to place Watson on paid leave in 2021, while the criminal complaints were pending. With the Texans not trying to play him and no trade happening, the league didn’t have to place Watson on paid leave. He already was.

The league could do the same thing regarding the 22 civil cases. The league did something similar in 2020, when the NFL punished receiver Antonio Brown for unrelated allegations but deferred action on a civil claim of sexual assault. The case eventually settled, and no further action was taken against Brown.

For Watson, the league could allow him to play and take no action against him as the civil cases go forward. If he wins at trial, he arguably shouldn’t be suspended at all. If he loses, then he’s suspended. It gets tricky if he settles; last year, there was a sense that if he resolved the cases to accommodate a trade to the Dolphins, he’d be looking at a six-game suspension. But that was before the criminal cases went away, which they did today.