Deshaun Watson doesn’t deserve to be cheered while being carted off the field with an Achilles injury, but Danny Parkins doesn’t want the Cleveland Browns quarterback getting the benefit of being portrayed as a victim either.
With Watson laying on the ground after suffering what turned out to be a season-ending injury, Browns fans cheered. Players, coaches and media members have since criticized the fans for cheering at the time of Watson’s injury, but in doing so, they’ve also portrayed a quarterback, who was previously accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women, as a victim.
Monday morning, Parkins attempted to course-correct some of Watson’s defenders during his FS1 morning show Breakfast Ball with co-hosts Craig Carton and Mark Schlereth.
“We gotta not make Deshaun Watson into a victim here and a martyr like those guys were doing when there are actual victims in this story.” – Danny Parkins pic.twitter.com/fQwo8tLPy7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 21, 2024
“This whole thing and the reaction to it was embarrassing. By Myles Garrett, by Jameis Winston, by fans, by media, I thought no one did their job yesterday,” Parkins ranted. “This is not complicated. Deshaun Watson was booed when he came onto the field before the game, Browns fans are not happy with Deshaun Watson because he’s been the worst quarterback in football. They are not taking some sort of moral stand against Deshaun Watson’s indiscretions off the field. Which, make no mistake, it’s 20-plus allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, and 20-plus settlements of sexual assault and misconduct.”
“I get that players do not want cheers or boos for an injured player,” Parkins continued. “But the media coming out and being like, ‘Jameis Winston’s words were so powerful,’ no they weren’t. Defending Deshaun Watson as a guy is ridiculous. Don’t cheer a guy getting injured, no one’s rooting for that, but Browns fans are happy that he’s not gonna be their quarterback because he’s been awful…But we gotta not make Deshaun Watson into a victim here and a martyr like those guys were doing when there are actual victims in this story.”
Those actual victims being the more than two dozen women who have accused Watson of sexual assault or misconduct in recent years.
Browns fans booed their $230 million quarterback during pregame introductions, and they cheered him as he was on the ground with a season-ending injury. Garrett and Winston understandably attempted to defend their teammate by criticizing the fans’ untimely cheers, but their attempts went too far.
“The man does pretty much everything right,” Garrett said of Watson. “He’s been a model citizen through college and mostly the pros.”
Winston, who could very well be Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the rest of the season, was widely praised for his emotional words of support for Watson. “I’m grateful that I had a chance to serve Deshaun,” Winston said. “But I’m very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day.”
Calling Watson a “model citizen” and claiming he “has had the world against him for the past four years” as if the quarterback had nothing to do with the accusations that were made against him, is inappropriate. Watson’s injury shouldn’t be cheered, and you can understand why his teammates would come out and criticize the fans for being ruthless. But Watson’s teammates accentuating his character and calling for empathy has been equally uncomfortable to hear.
