USAT: Saints Wire audio clip

USAT: Saints Wire

Mar 13, 2022

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero set off a social media frenzy Sunday morning by reporting the New Orleans Saints have submitted a trade offer for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, with a meeting expected to occur soon in which Watson will choose whether to waive his no-trade clause for New Orleans. Landing a top-five quarterback in the prime of his playing career would be a coup for the Saints, but Watson brings so much serious baggage that it shouldn’t have gotten to this point. - Critics love to say that a team can’t sign Colin Kaepernick because of the distraction his social activism would bring, or that Tim Tebow didn’t get a fair shake (he got several, actually) because of the circus that follows him everywhere. Watson has been credibly accused of a years-long predatory pattern of behavior by 22 different women all describing the same events. That wasn’t enough for the courts to criminally charge him. But it’s a situation the American criminal justice system isn’t built to resolve, with only a fraction of those accused of sexual assault ever actually seeing jailtime. A lack of physical evidence with which to levy criminal charges doesn’t signify innocence no matter how much Watson and his agent are trying to tell people it does. - There have been a lot of snide remarks asking why it’s important to take a moral stand on this right now. It’s because we risk letting the allegations against Watson be glossed over by a long and successful career, just like happened with Ben Roethlisberger and Kobe Bryant and Chauncey Billups. The gravity of the misconduct Watson is accused of demands we speak out against it now, six months from now, and six years from now. Downplaying it or ignoring it because he’s good at throwing a football is disrespectful to sexual assault survivors everywhere. - And the Saints have shown us they’re willing to live with that by taking the process this far. It lines up with their past behavior in overlooking the accusations against Jameis Winston and Carl Granderson, who actually served time in a Wyoming prison prior to his return to the team. They may have a female owner who promotes activism in a wide array of fields. But they’re in the business of winning football games, not taking moral stands, and they feel trading for Watson would give them the best opportunity to do that. We’ll see how it plays out. - - List - - Step into the Saints Wire war room for our first collaborative 7-round mock draft - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Saints Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Saints Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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