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Daniel Oyefusi, ESPN
BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has denied allegations of sexual assault and battery that were levied in a lawsuit filed earlier this week in Texas.
“Deshaun strongly denies the allegations in the Jane Doe lawsuit filed Monday,” attorney Rusty Hardin, who is representing Watson, wrote Wednesday in a statement. “We have asked him not to comment further while this matter works its way through the courts, but are comfortable he will ultimately be vindicated. We will be ready to defend this case in court at the appropriate time, but don’t intend to conduct our defense in the media. We would ask that people be patient while the legal process runs its course.”
The NFL on Tuesday said it is reviewing the complaint under the personal conduct policy, but added that Watson will not be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list because there have been no formal charges and the league’s review just began.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Watson will still start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars but declined to comment on the lawsuit, deferring to a team statement released Tuesday.
“We’ll let the due process play out and follow the NFL’s guidelines,” said Stefanski, who added that he was unaware of the allegations against Watson before the lawsuit was filed.
In a statement released later Wednesday, Tony Buzbee, the attorney representing the woman who filed the lawsuit, said he reached out to Watson’s attorneys for months to resolve the matter privately.
“We reached out to attorney Rusty Hardin’s office for ten months in an attempt to resolve this case,” Buzbee’s statement read. “We knew this case was the most serious and egregious case brought against Watson to date and our client, who is rightly traumatized by these events, wanted to attempt a private resolution.”
Watson said Wednesday he found out about the lawsuit when it surfaced and was “surprised” to see the allegations. When asked about Buzbee’s claim of reaching out to Hardin’s office 10 months ago, Watson responded: “I’m not aware of that.”
According to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Harris County, Texas, the alleged actions occurred in October 2020 before Watson and a woman, identified as Jane Doe in the court filing, were set to have dinner at the woman’s apartment. Watson was a member of the Houston Texans at the time.
The lawsuit states that Watson met the woman, a single mother, at a Houston restaurant and bar, managed to get her phone number and initially attempted to have her meet him at the Houston Galleria for a date. Reluctant to meet Watson in public, the woman instead agreed to a dinner date at her apartment, according to the lawsuit.
On the evening of the date, according to the lawsuit, she said Watson had trouble finding her apartment and began aggressively yelling and screaming at her on the phone, saying he didn’t “have time for this.”
The lawsuit alleges that, while applying makeup in her bathroom, the woman then found Watson “completely naked on her bed, lying face down on his stomach.” Watson then requested that the woman massage his buttocks and the woman “tried to appease Watson by rubbing his back, rather than his buttocks,” according to the lawsuit.
Watson then turned over and “continued to demand that Jane Doe massage him, gesturing from his knees to his groin,” according to the lawsuit. The woman told Watson that she was not a masseuse, to which Watson asked her what she wanted to do instead, the suit alleges.
Before the woman could answer, Watson “partially disrobed Jane Doe and penetrated her vagina without consent, implicit or explicit,” according to the lawsuit, which also alleges that Watson sexually assaulted the woman for several minutes before she escaped and grabbed a heavy piece of decor for self-defense. Watson then “stormed out of Jane Doe’s apartment,” according to the lawsuit.
Watson, who is scheduled to speak to media Wednesday, served an 11-game suspension in 2022 after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. A pair of Texas grand juries declined to pursue criminal charges against Watson, but he served his suspension after the NFL and the NFL Players Association reached a settlement in his disciplinary matter.
Watson also had to pay a fine of $5 million and undergo mandatory evaluation by behavioral experts and follow their suggested treatment program before being reinstated by the league.
Watson settled 23 of the 24 civil lawsuits filed against him in the summer of 2022.
The lawsuit filed Monday is unrelated to the two remaining active civil lawsuits from women who accused Watson of sexual misconduct during massage sessions.
In the prior civil cases, a judge compelled the women suing Watson to use their actual names in court filings. Hardin told ESPN on Wednesday that he intends to ask the court to require the woman who sued Watson on Monday to also be identified by name in court filings.
In March 2022, the Browns traded six draft picks, including three first-round picks, for Watson and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million deal, which was an NFL record at the time.
The suspension and injuries have limited Watson to just 13 starts with Cleveland, which includes a 33-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday — his first game since undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery last November. Watson completed 24 of 45 passes for 169 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss.
ESPN’s John Barr contributed to this report.
