Except it seems the only one that has heard of this secret agreement is HOTJ I think the only agreement from the other teams was that you would have to be a couple of bananas short of a bunch to trade multiple 1st round picks plus a player or 2 for a QB with multiple sexual assault and other accusations against him.
I would imagine the Dolphins would insist on the draft compensation being dependent on Watson not getting suspended for a lengthy period or going to jail. A conditional pick/picks that won't solidify until the legal situation plays out.
I don't know how the legal issues will play out but if the fish make this move its for 2022 and beyond. I think they realize this year is over and its obvious they are not sold on Tua.
It's a nearly perfect example of what not to do before you have built a good roster to support the QB. Given that Watson will likely play under a cloud for the rest of his career even the marketing angles are all mucked up. Also, not to be disrespectful to dogs but people who are putting this case in the Michael Vick category are not looking at what the sentence might be if a jury concludes that he is guilty of rape. Odds are extremely low that he would still be able to play football in the NFL after completing that even with time off for good behavior.
The only reason I can think of that they'd be making it now is because they feel like they are getting a better price on him now and are hedging that his legal issues will resolve themselves in the near future or offseason which drives his price back up. I wouldn't be shocked if he walks out of this unscathed and pays a bunch of big settlement style hush money out. These are civil cases after all right now, with no criminal filings.
It's definitely possible he avoids criminal charges. The results of the grand jury subpoenas sent out in August will be working their way through the system right now. When the grand jury decides we'll know, not before. In fact if they decide not to indict we will likely only know by the absence of action. Grand jury proceedings are protected in ways that leaks are much less likely to happen. Nobody wants to spend time in jail, even trivial time, on a contempt charge. Unscathed is unlikely whatever happens. #Metoo happened and what Watson is accused of will follow him for the rest of his career.
There is going to be pretty much no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he's guilty of rape. That's the criminal standard though and not the civil standard. But there's pretty much no evidence of rape and as I understand it there have been zero rape kits done or much of any gathering of evidence done by the police. Trust me - I hope he burns if made unwanted advances on any of these women. It's disgraceful. But with no criminal filings and a lot of hearsay right now, I don't see how this doesn't get settled. Unless Watson's team feels so confident that they can beat them in court which is possible because I'd imagine they have a lot more money behind them for a defense than the prosecution would have. Me too is dead dude. Not to mention, Watson is a big social justice guy and somewhat of a political activist as a black quarterback. That gets him a lot of brownie points with those sort of people. Roethlisberger was none of those things and he clearly raped that girl. It didn't really follow him because he performed.
Are there that many allegations of rape? It seemed as though a lot of the allegations were indecent exposure and molestation. The legal system is setup so that the ultra weather like Watson can pour money into this to make it go away or force their accusers to settle because they themselves run out of money to support the legal costs. It's unfortunate but that's why I see this going away for him. Rape kits would absolutely be needed in criminal proceedings other wise you're arguing over text messages and he-said she-said. The expensive defense attorneys will win that all day every day.
It was reported that several people had accused him of rape. Rape kits are not needed when multiple corroborating witnesses come forward. They're always an important piece if they're there but if women reported him to their agencies and/or families/friends at the time the grand jury and DA are likely to proceed.
The true crime book on this is going to be amazing if he's convicted. Everybody thinks Watson wanted out of Houston because the new management was freezing him out of any advisory role on rebuilding the Texans. However all of this lurking in the background waiting to come out might have been the real trigger. There was a big turnover in two key roles during the 2020 season. Bill O'Brien got fired in early October and then Amy Palcic, the only female PR director in the NFL got fired a month later. O'Brien had just signed Watson to the $160M extension. It made next to no sense to fire him when the Texans fired him. Late in the season maybe but 4 games after he had signed Watson and after the blockbuster Laremy Tunsil deal in 2019 made no sense from a continuity standpoint. Whoever followed O'Brien in the job was likely to be even more screwed than he was given the assets the Texans had invested and what was left in the bank. Palcic likely would have been one of the first people to know if something was brewing around the star QB. She might even have known earlier in the year if people were buzzing about complaints.
The tie in with that (excellent but attention seeking) lawyer is great as well. Was he helping to keep the lid on this with the McNair's until Watson demanded a trade and would sit out? The unconfirmed message board reports of Watson's mom wanting Hopkins traded and Bill O'Brien obliging are interesting because of the women Hopkins was supposedly bringing around. And the pastor being the head of football operations now is a good element.
Well Goodell is behind on his criminal punishments. He's got a long list of guys he hasn't gotten around to yet. It could be 5 years before he gets to Watson, by then Miami will have all those years of service When the commissioner starts policing the league this is what happens, you cant keep up
These things are one of the few cases of where they don't see it as "any publicity is good publicity" so I'm sure ole Rog' isnt in a hurry to put it into the spotlight until the embers cool off
2 seasons ago, I thought the Dolphins had made the blueprint for a proper, modern NFL rebuild (the sort that the Jets never have the patience to see through). However, the last two years of trading and drafting in Miami have been batshit crazy. If this goes wrong, the AFC East will have gone from a strong to a weak division in record time.
the bills are still a top 3 team. the pats will be good regardless especially as jones gets better and bellichick gets a few more pieces in place. The dolphins are really just a QB away. We have some potential once zach imporves and we spend out money and picks.
The Pats are likely to suck. Belichik really hasn't won anything without Tom Brady and his moves this year looked like desperation. The Pats might blow out the Jets on Sunday but they're not a good team and are unlikely to become one.
they are pretty under talented and over performing though. yes brady covered up a lot of issues on their roster but you can't disocunt bellichick. I'm aware bill has a worse record without brady then rex had as a jet coach. but some circumstances exist too. he's still a great coach who gets them at least 3 wins a year on games they shouldn't be winning. he almost just took down a much better cowboys team. he made herbert look like ass. he made zach look like ass. that pats team without bill is a 3-4 win team max. with him he's getting 7-9
