Jemele Hill and Danny Parkins rightfully used their platforms to tear down the notion that injured Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is a victim. Amidst dozens and dozens of sexual misconduct allegations, Watson hasn’t exactly endeared himself to be a sympathetic figure, even in the wake of fans cheering his Achilles snapping.
The overwhelming reaction from media pundits like Hill and Parkins is that two wrongs don’t make a right. That is to say that Browns fans shouldn’t have expressed jubilation over a season-ending injury, and Watson’s teammates shouldn’t have come to his defense so quickly to prove that he’s something he’s not.
Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston have every right to express their loyalty to their teammate. But painting Watson as a “model citizen” is just not living in reality. That’s the conclusion ex-NFL defensive lineman Chris Canty came to as he weighed in on the matter during ESPN Radio’s UnSportsmanlike.
“It’s such a hard conversation for me to have because I feel like the fans in Cleveland were booing because of Deshaun Watson’s poor play — and happy that he got out of there,” Canty said Monday. “So, hopefully, the team can get better quarterback play. I’m not sure how much the two dozen sexual misconduct cases factored into their emotions in that particular moment. But, when I hear Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston call for empathy for Deshaun Watson — that’s cringe.
“Where was the empathy for the two dozen victims to his sexual misconduct? And them being forced to relive that trauma after the Cleveland Browns give Deshaun Watson $230 million. Where’s your empathy for how they felt in that moment? For how victims of sexual abuse in that moment, seeing somebody being accused of something so despicable, be rewarded in that fashion. That’s the part that the players gotta be careful with that line.
“I mean, LeBron James came out yesterday and talked about how lame it was for the Cleveland fans to boo Watson when he got hurt. Did you come out and talk about how lame it was with Deshaun Watson having two dozen sexual misconduct cases? That’s where you gotta be careful as a player when it comes to issues like this. And I understand wanting to defend your teammate; I understand that bunker mentality. ‘I’m in the foxhole with my guy, and I gotta defend my guy.’
“There was nothing wrong with those players coming out and saying, ‘It lacks class for the Cleveland Browns fans to boo when Deshaun Watson got hurt.’… Leave it there. For you to go out there and make calls for empathy shows a complete lack of awareness — and something about that has to change. It is completely insensitive. And those players who thought they were doing the right thing, could not be more wrong in that moment with their commentary.”
It was absolutely wrong for @Browns fans to boo DeShaun Watson after he got injured, period. What Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston said in response was also outta pocket. Two things can be true IMO pic.twitter.com/TGO41BqDqq
— Chris Canty (@ChrisCanty99) October 21, 2024
In his impassioned rant, Canty firmly acknowledged that while it’s natural to defend a teammate, there’s a point where it goes too far.
And Garrett and Winston went too far.
