Nearly five years after the first civil lawsuits emerged, the legal cloud surrounding Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has finally lifted. In early 2026, the last two of 27 lawsuits filed by women accusing him of misconduct during massage sessions were dismissed with prejudice after confidential settlements. Watson has always denied wrongdoing, insisting some encounters were consensual, yet the volume of claims and the NFL’s subsequent punishment reshaped his career and the Browns’ future.
Two Texas grand juries declined to indict him on criminal charges in 2022, meaning Watson has never faced formal prosecution or a criminal conviction related to the allegations. The civil cases, however, painted a consistent picture of alleged behavior during private massage appointments arranged while he played for the Houston Texans in 2020 and early 2021. Attorney Tony Buzbee represented 26 of the 27 plaintiffs; most cases settled confidentially years earlier, one was withdrawn, and the final pair resolved quietly in January 2026 just before scheduled trials.
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What Happened and the Legal Outcome
The accusations centered on massage therapy sessions Deshaun Watson arranged, often through social media, with both licensed and unlicensed therapists. Plaintiffs described a pattern in which professional boundaries were allegedly crossed. Watson’s legal team maintained that any activity was mutual. The NFL conducted its own investigation under the personal conduct policy and ultimately suspended him for 11 games in 2022, fined him $5 million, and required behavioral evaluation and treatment.
No criminal “crime” was ever adjudicated in court; the grand juries’ decisions left the matter entirely in the civil and league disciplinary arenas. By February 2026, every outstanding lawsuit had been resolved, closing the formal legal chapter.
Cleveland Browns Future and Lingering Questions
Deshaun Watson arrived in Cleveland in 2022 via a trade that cost the Browns three first-round picks and was immediately handed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract—one of the most expensive and controversial deals in NFL history. Injuries, including a ruptured Achilles that was re-injured during rehabilitation, limited him to roughly 19 starts through 2025.
In 2026, the final year of that contract, he is competing with Shedeur Sanders for the starting job while carrying a roughly $41 million salary-cap charge and a $46 million cash payout. The Browns restructured the deal to create short-term space, yet significant dead-money charges will remain after this season regardless of whether he is released or retained.
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As of August 2026, Watson remains under contract through the year and is expected by many observers to start, though performance will determine how long he holds the role. Analysts widely view this as his last season in Cleveland; a post-June 1 release after 2026 would allow the team to spread remaining dead money across future years. Fan reaction has been mixed at best, with boos accompanying recent appearances.
Watson has expressed openness to staying if the year goes well, but the combination of past allegations, uneven on-field results, and the contract’s burden makes a long-term future in Cleveland unlikely. The settlements end the courtroom battles, yet the professional and public consequences continue to define the final chapter of his Browns tenure.
