If you want to read how it’s fine to trade for a quarterback with 22 unresolved sexual-assault allegations and 10 criminal complaints against him simply because he’ll help you win football games, go find your reading elsewhere.
That’s not the stance here.
It’s the position the Miami Dolphins have taken, though. They’re all-in on Deshaun Watson. He’s their quarterback, in spirit if not in uniform. By inferred word and unclosed spigot of speculation, they’ve shown the desperate road they’re on to get Watson and try to raise their Titanic.
Let’s be clear: If they weren’t interested in Watson, it would be easy to say, “We’re not interested.” It would be in the best interests of this season, too, considering the cloud of perpetual distraction over it and their current soon-to-be ex-quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa.
Instead, team owner Steve Ross sidestepped reporters at this past week’s NFL owners meetings, saying he knew what they wanted to ask. Coach Brian Flores contemplated direct questions Friday, inspecting words in his mind like avocados at the supermarket — hemming, hawing, and hesitantly agreeing Tua would start for the rest of 2021.
“Tua is our quarterback,” is the best Flores can do, knowing that’s easy enough to pivot from. He’s the quarterback until he’s not. Until Watson is. That viral video clip of Nick “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach” Saban swirls in the back of Dolphins’ minds these days.
You have to feel for Tua here. His physical skills aren’t imposing. His health is a play-to-play concern. But tough? Mentally strong? He’s handled himself well knowing the same people who married him 18 months ago want to divorce him.
The Dolphins are a bedpan mess. They have no idea what they’re doing. Let’s just put those two sentences on a repeating soundtrack to cover the past two decades until some future year when this franchise makes sense again.
Here’s what general manager Chris Grier and Flores are saying: The problem isn’t us. It’s the players we acquired. It’s not us. It’s the quarterback we spent three sacrificed seasons to draft.
It’s not us.
It’s our decisions.
Is anyone sure this decision is any better? Isn’t this the Dolphins corollary of the definition of insanity? They keep repeating how the definition of insanity is repeating the same things over and over and expecting different results?
Grier didn’t see Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson being great quarterbacks. They are. He traded for Josh Rosen. He lasted three Dolphins games. He passed on Justin Herbert, who was a star from his first start, for Tagovailoa.
So now he wants a quarterback wrapped in an uncertain cloak of sexual-assault accusations? What could go wrong?
In their lawsuits, the 22 women accuse Watson of exposing himself, touching them with his penis or kissing them against their will during massage appointments. Watson and his lawyers have denied the accusations. His lawyers have said “some sexual activity” happened during some of the appointments but that he never coerced anyone.
The real football issue is the Dolphins can’t recognize a quarterback until he’s a Pro Bowl quarterback. Watson is that guy. He’s great. If you’re just talking football, he’d be worth the three No. 1 picks and whatever else is thrown into a trade.
But you can’t just talk football with Watson. It’s not just his legal quagmire. Are the Dolphins ready for the protests outside games? For the public-relations backlash? For the incoming face of their franchise to be made Exhibit A.
Sure, a few touchdown passes will melt some ice. Let’s not be naïve about that. But does anyone have a handle on his legal problems? Is anyone even sure there’s nothing else out there?
Here’s a radical idea: Hire a general manager who can pick the right quarterback prospect. Grier can’t. That’s obvious. Grier and Flores view this trade as a get-out-of-jail card. Watson can save their jobs that are under question. They’re in survival mode, football people only see football.
Sometimes it’s not just about winning, though. The Florida Panthers just went through a mess from coach Joel Quenneville (and others) not having the judgment and leadership to investigate the allegation of a sexual assault while the Chicago Blackhawks coach in 2010. He lied about it 11 years later during a law firm’s investigation, too.
Ross suffered through Bullygate, the national embarrassment involving emotionally distraught players in an untethered environment. That, too, had nothing to do with winning.
He’d better be sure of Watson. He’s not even waiting on the cases to be settled before going all-in on him. Some fans will be in favor of trading for a talent with 22 unresolved sexual-assault allegations and 10 criminal complaints. That doesn’t fly here.
