Should the NFL put Deshaun Watson on The Commissioner’s Exempt List?

Dan Patrick reacts to the latest revelations in the Deshaun Watson saga and wonders when it’s time to put Deshaun Watson on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. Watson is losing sponsors, losing in the court of public opinion while awaiting the result of legal action, and Dan wonders how long the NFL can wait before acting. He’s not the first player to be involved in these kinds of allegations and the NFL has proven it will step in and hand out discipline pending the result of civil rulings. Dan knows the NFL will do what it must to protect the league.

Dan Patrick:“The situation with Deshaun Watson took a turn yesterday…At what point do you put him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List? And I think that’s a tricky question right now for the NFL because, if you put him on, then how do you take him off? If this goes into the Fall? If it goes into the fall then you put him on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. I think that would probably be the best way to protect the league because this isn’t about Deshaun Watson for the NFL, it’s about the NFL. You want to protect yourself; take him off the field. You did this with Adrian Peterson. You did this with Ray Rice. But this is a tricky situation here given the amount of time that you’re going to have. And do you discipline him? Let’s say he settles all these civil cases. Does the NFL discipline him? It’s like Ben Roethlisberger. I think they gave him a six-game suspension, reduced it to four with what happened in Georgia, and Deshaun Watson might be facing the same situation.”