HOUSTON — In his first news conference since the first lawsuit was filed against Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio said the team is “respectful of the legal process” and that he doesn’t have “any comment” on the situation.
In the past month, 23 lawsuits alleging inappropriate behavior and sexual assault have been filed against Watson. One of the lawsuits was dropped earlier in the week by a plaintiff “for now,” according to court documents.
“I know [Texans CEO] Cal [McNair] and ownership put a letter out a few weeks ago just relative to the organization’s stance, relative to where we are,” Caserio said. “So I don’t have anything to add other than it’s a legal process. We’re respectful of the legal process and where that is. So we’re focused on today. We’re focused on getting ready for the offseason program and getting ready for the draft, so that’s where our focus is.”
In a letter to Texans 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 assure you that we take these allegations very seriously.
“While we await the conclusion of these investigations, we express our strong stance against any form of sexual assault,” the letter reads. “Our family and the entire Houston Texans organization are deeply troubled by any form of abuse and we condemn this type of behavior.”
Caserio was asked about potential contingency plans at quarterback on Friday, but said he wasn’t going to think that far down the road.
“We’re not going to really get into a lot of hypotheticals and a lot of speculation,” Caserio said. “I’m not really good at that. Maybe somebody else is better at that than me. If you want to speculate, you should probably buy Bitcoin and focus on that. So we’re just going to focus on the things we can control, which is kind of getting ready for the draft and trying to take advantage of the opportunities to add to our team and build our roster.”
In a statement last week, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy called the allegations against Watson “deeply disturbing,” noting, “we take these issues very seriously.”
McCarthy said that the league launched an investigation under its personal conduct policy last month after the first allegations and that the NFL is “continuing to closely monitor all developments in the matter.”
