Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson says he was surprised by recent sexual assault lawsuit

CNN
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson said Wednesday he was surprised by the recent civil lawsuit against him.

In the lawsuit obtained by CNN on Monday, a woman identified as “Jane Doe” alleged that Watson sexually assaulted her before a dinner at her apartment in October 2020.

The 28-year-old told reporters at his weekly press conference on Wednesday that he only found out about the lawsuit when everyone else did.

Previously, Watson's attorney Rusty Hardin released a statement saying the former first-round pick “strongly denies” the allegations.

“We have asked him not to make any further comment while the matter is being heard in court, but we are confident that he will ultimately prevail,” Hardin said.

“We will be prepared to defend this case in court when the time comes, but we do not intend to conduct our defense in the media. We ask that people be patient while the legal process takes its course. In the meantime, Deshaun will focus his energy and concentration on football.”

Plaintiffs' attorney Tony Buzbee issued a counter statement Wednesday, saying he contacted Hardin 10 months ago to work out a resolution and accusing Watson of lying when he claimed he was unaware of the latest allegations.

“We knew this case was the most serious and egregious brought against Watson to date, and our client, who is rightly traumatized by these events, wanted to seek a private resolution,” Buzbee wrote in an Instagram post. “We felt this was the best approach given the media storm that arose around the numerous other claims.”

“Unfortunately, Watson's team, or perhaps his lawyers, were unable or unwilling to give this case the attention it deserves. … Watson was aware of this victim and his claims immediately after the incident, and Watson was reminded of this again when we filed the initial lawsuit on behalf of the other numerous victims.”

When asked about his lawyer's statement on Wednesday, Watson said, “The statement is the answer that we talked about, and you know, everything he expressed in that statement is an accurate reflection of how I feel and what's going through our minds in this process.”

Watson and the Browns will play on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. When asked how he manages to keep that from distracting him, he said his “focus” is on football.

“I'm focused on the basics,” Watson said Wednesday. “And then I go into this building and focus on being the best quarterback I can be, on the game plan and trying to be better than I was last week so we can win.”

In 2022, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to suspend Watson for 11 regular-season games without pay and fine him $5 million after at least 24 civil lawsuits were filed on behalf of women who alleged the quarterback sexually harassed or assaulted them during private massage appointments during his playing days with the Texans.

Watson repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in these cases, and 23 of the lawsuits were settled confidentially. Two grand juries declined to criminally indict Watson.

CNN's Wayne Sterling and Ben Church contributed to this report.