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AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 29m ago
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit advocate for Deshaun Watson’s ‘second’ chance
Credit: NFL on Prime
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit did their best to run some positive Deshaun Watson propaganda at a time where the Cleveland Browns quarterback has few apologists.
Against most football fans’ wishes, the Browns went ahead and controversially named Watson their starting quarterback for the upcoming season. The announcement came just days after he lashed out at the fanbase for booing him during their home preseason game last weekend.
Despite Watson’s admonishment, Browns fans have a cast of reasons to boo the 30-year-old quarterback including the dozens of previous sexual misconduct accusations against him. They also could have been booing his poor play since coming to Cleveland from the Houston Texans despite receiving a $230 million guaranteed contract.
Regardless of their reasons for booing Deshaun Watson, the Browns are giving fans something they don’t want, more Deshaun Watson.
And during Thursday night’s Cleveland Browns-New England Patriots preseason matchup on Prime Video, Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit summed up the Watson saga in Cleveland with a surprisingly positive spin.
“When that news broke, everybody was kind of like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ Everybody was kind of surprised…I’m a guy that believes that everybody deserves second opportunities” – Kirk Herbstreit on Deshaun Watson pic.twitter.com/IEwCPi1sRv
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 28, 2026
“It’s been the big story here in Cleveland,” Michaels said of Watson. “And most everybody who follows football knows that here’s a guy who was the belle of the ball, he was the guy in Houston when he came in as a rookie. They LOVED him. And he played great for them, and then of course it all got turned around, and here he is now with a chance to save a career that right now looks like it’s bottomed out. He’s got a chance to bounce back.”
Herbstreit went on to cite Watson’s infamous press conference that many thought might be the final breaking point on his career in Cleveland.
“Obviously it’s been a disaster,” Herbstreit admitted. “But you can see how a guy can lose his cool and say something like that. But it’s out of his system. I think you’ll never see him talk about that again. But I think at the same time, he’s going to go out and execute. I mean, that’s what it comes down to in the NFL. I mean, he has not played winning football since he’s been in Cleveland. It’s been a disaster, but moving forward, he took 22 months to get back into this position. He could have taken his money and just not come back. Something drove him to come back to want to play again.”
Michaels then skipped over the last five years of turmoil to reiterate how beloved Watson was at the start of his NFL career in Houston.
“He took his first paycheck as a rookie and gave it to three women who were working in the cafeteria at the Texans facilities whose homes were either damaged or destroyed in a hurricane,” Michaels said.
While giving his first paycheck to three women affected by Hurricane Harvey is undoubtedly a nice gesture, it was also nine years ago. And in the years since Watson gave that paycheck to three women, he also had more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct , having since settled each case .
“To anybody early in his career in college at Clemson, whether it’s Dabo Swinney, his wife Kathleen, any of his teammates, anybody at Houston early in his career. I mean, that’s really the guy that everybody knew,” Herbstreit added. “That’s why when that news broke, everybody was kind of like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ Everybody was kind of surprised. I don’t know. I’m a guy that believes that everybody deserves second opportunities, and I know that this has been a disaster. One of the worst trades maybe in the history of the NFL, but he’s still a 30-year-old. And at one point, he was one of the top quarterbacks in the league.”
Deshaun Watson received his second chance several chances ago. And the reason many fans are against seeing him receive chance after chance is because of his consistent lack of remorse or willingness to accept accountability.
Thursday night’s preseason NFL on Prime broadcast similarly didn’t seek to hold Watson accountable. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit spent nearly three minutes discussing Deshaun Watson, and the only real reference to the dozens of sexual misconduct cases he settled was Herbstreit saying the allegations surprised everyone because the quarterback was previously known as a nice guy.
It’s hard to gloss over the allegations that derailed Watson’s NFL career and then credit the quarterback for not just taking his money and running. This also wasn’t the first time Michaels and Herbstreit glossed over the allegations. In 2022, the Thursday Night Football broadcast on Prime was similarly vague on Watson’s transgressions when discussing the quarterback’s suspension.
In defense of Michaels and Herbstreit, the decision to avoid any real conversation around the allegations against Deshaun Watson in 2022 likely came from higher ups, with the NFL preferring not to underscore the topic on one of their prime time broadcasts. Even if they were advised to not get into the details of Watson’s history of sexual misconduct accusations four years later, it was a choice to spin the quarterback’s story into one of resolve and redemption, particularly considering his limited willingness to show remorse.
The post Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit advocate for Deshaun Watson’s ‘second’ chance appeared first on Awful Announcing .
Al MichaelsKirk HerbstreitDeshaun Watson’sDeshaun WatsonCleveland BrownsAgainstBrownsWatsonCreditNFLPrimeDespite Watson’s
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