BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson reported to training camp Friday as he and his new team continue to wait to see whether he’ll face a suspension this season.
Watson, along with Cleveland’s other quarterbacks and the team’s rookies, arrived at the Browns’ training facility in preparation for training camp. The rest of the team will join them early next week before camp begins Wednesday.
NFL disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson, a retired federal judge, is still weighing whether Watson violated the league’s personal conduct policy. Watson has been accused in civil lawsuits by 25 women of inappropriate sexual misconduct during massage sessions. One of the 25 lawsuits was dropped after the judge ruled the petition had to be amended to include the plaintiff’s name.
Watson and 20 of the other plaintiffs agreed to settle their lawsuits in June. Four lawsuits remain active and are on track to go to trial next year.
Robinson heard arguments from the NFL, the NFLPA and Watson’s attorney during a three-day hearing in her home state of Delaware in late June. Two grand juries in Texas declined to pursue criminal charges against Watson earlier this year and Watson has maintained his innocence, but the NFL argued that he should face an indefinite suspension of at least a full season.
Despite the allegations against him, the Browns traded for Watson in March, sending three first-round draft picks to the Houston Texans after a Harris County grand jury in Houston declined to indict him. Cleveland then gave Watson a five-year fully guaranteed contract worth $230 million, which at the time was the richest deal in NFL history for any player.
Whatever happens with Watson, the Browns will enter training camp with four quarterbacks, including Jacoby Brissett, who is expected to start in the event Watson is suspended.
On Friday, the Browns also signed Josh Rosen, the No. 10 pick of the Arizona Cardinals in the 2018 draft. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs, whom the team signed earlier this offseason, is also on Cleveland’s roster.