Deshaun Watson may be dividing the Cleveland Browns front office

A new leak has Deshaun Watson directly spitting in the face of Jimmy Haslam’s attempt to do damage control for the Cleveland Browns.

The Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson are not on the same page with how to move forward. The tension surrounding the embattled and disgraced quarterback and the team’s consistent failed attempts to rehab his image may be coming to head in the media with constant messages that don’t match one another. Jimmy Haslam posted a statement several days prior that said;

"We know Deshaun is remorseful that this situation has caused much heartache to many and he will continue the work needed to show who he is on and off the field, and we will continue to support him."

Except, that is not what is being reported. Adam Schaffter reported that Watson and his camp feel he didn’t do anything wrong and that he’s anything but remorseful. Now, some will see that as a made-up story, done to make Watson look bad.

Here’s the thing though, guys like Schaffter play nice with teams. If he lies, teams stop giving them information. That’s all this is by the way folks, it’s coordinated leaks from people in the team. So if Schaffter is reporting that Watson isn’t remorseful, it’s not because he’s making it up, it’s because someone in the Browns front office (or coaching staff) is relaying it to him.

So why would they be relaying it? Well, simply, it’s possibly because not everyone is apparently on board with the Watson experiment. Considering a judge ruled that Watson was a predator, sexually assaulted four women, limited his freedoms due to how much of a danger he is to others, and called his actions “more egregious than any the league has faced”, I get why some wouldn’t want him around.

Most people outside of the Browns fandom have condemned him The Browns and even the Browns fans for supporting Watson. For good reason, his behavior is unconscionable and it turns out all the claims against him had validity.

So the whole “money grab” or “conspiracy” arguments so many tried to push ended up being desperate attempts by desperate fans to justify their fandom for a monster.

The only reason Robinson suspended him for just six games isn’t that he’s innocent, its’ because she saw no established precedent had been set to justify a longer suspension, nor did the league’s policies allow her to suggest a longer suspension. Though precedent can always be set, so not a great ruling from her but that’s why there’s an appeals process.

Despite that, she ruled that Watson was guilty. Shocking

The Browns tried to sink Baker Mayfield’s tenure just because they didn’t like his attitude. The whole “want an adult at quarterback” came from someone within the front office and was more than likely purposefully leaked. You don’t think some of the people running the Browns have even worse feelings for Watson? Think again.

It’s just speculation on my part, but why would anyone leak news about Watson, and who would be the one leaking it? Good question, let’s look closer at the situation.

The Cleveland Browns may be rebelling against Jimmy Haslam

From the outset of free agency, the word going around the NFL Rumor Mill was that Jimmy Haslam and not anyone else was the driving force to go get Watson. If that’s true, anyone and everyone could be the one leaking the news.

Personally, the individual who has the most to lose from this blowing up is Andrew Berry. Even if Haslam did push Berry to do the trade, as I personally believe he did, it’ll be Berry who has to suffer the consequences if this blows up any further. If Watson is suspended for a year or more and the team starts losing, Berry will be the scapegoat.

Worse, should Watson recidivate, which seems likely considering his reported lack of remorse, then the Browns will look even worse for allowing an active predator to be a member of the team. The worst possible thing that could happen for the Browns is new victims coming forward after they acquired him.

These are all situations where Berry would take the most heat and be ejected from the league. Yet, if you’re the one supplying the information needed to put the screws to him, you end up building yourself a sword-proof Pope-Mobile should that dangling Sword of Deshaunocles fall onto the franchise.

This story is never going away folks. Get used to the team’s new narrative.

God, I miss when the worst thing about this team was going 1-31.