HOUSTON – At his first news conference since the first lawsuit was filed against Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio said the team is “law-abiding” and has no ” no comment “on the situation.
In the past month, 23 lawsuits have been filed alleging misconduct and sexual assault against Watson. One of the lawsuits was withdrawn earlier in the week by a plaintiff “for now,” according to court documents.
“I know [Texans CEO] Cal [McNair] and the property issued a letter a few weeks ago regarding the organization’s stance, regarding where we are, “Caserio said.” So I have nothing to add other than it is a legal process. We respect the legal process and the place where it is located. So let’s focus today. We are focused on preparing for the low season program and preparing for the draft, so here is our focus. ”
In a letter to Texan season ticket holders on April 5, the McNair family addressed the civil lawsuits and a complaint filed with the Houston Police Department against Watson, saying, “We want to make sure we take those allegations. very seriously.
“While we await the conclusion of these investigations, we express our firm stance against any form of sexual assault,” the letter says. “Our family and the entire Texas Texans organization are deeply concerned about any form of abuse and we condemn this type of behavior.”
Caserio was asked on Friday about possible contingency plans for the quarterback, but said he wouldn’t think that far.
“We’re not really going to get into a lot of hypothetical and a lot of speculation,” Caserio said. “I’m not very good at it. Maybe someone is better than me. If you want to speculate, you should probably buy Bitcoin and focus on that. So we’ll focus on the things we can control, which is a bit of preparing for in the draft and try to seize the opportunities to add to our team and build our list. “
In a statement last week, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy described the allegations against Watson as “deeply disturbing,” noting that “we take these issues very seriously.”
McCarthy said the league began an investigation under its personal conduct policy last month after the first allegations and that the NFL “continues to closely monitor all developments in the matter.”