Deshaun Watson’s season is over, and possibly his entire NFL profession. The Cleveland Browns quarterback was having one of the worst statistical seasons in league history, and Browns fans booed him when he took the sphere on Sunday. Then suddenly, within the second quarter of their Week 7 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, Watson dropped back to throw a pass after which fell to the bottom with a torn Achilles. Reactions to the injury were harsh. Cleveland fans have shown they’re fed up with Watson’s uselessness even greater than they’re fed up along with his off-field transgressions. Meanwhile, Watson’s peers and teammates defended him and lifted him up. Both types of responses are a reminder of an environment that has allowed a person accused of dozens of acts of sexual misconduct to proceed to be accepted and defended, although many others found these alleged acts abhorrent.

An unwritten rule in sports is that fans show respect to players once they are injured. Even should you support the opposing team, cheering when a player is injured is bad form. It’s especially bad to have a good time when a player from the team you support gets injured. The Cleveland crowd ignored this unwritten rule as fans loudly celebrated on the sight of Watson falling to the bottom with a devastating injury. In a vacuum, Watson’s raucous joy at misfortune would have been universally dismissed, but Watson’s unique circumstances complicated the whole lot.

The Cleveland Browns contract gave Watson a record-setting salary $230 million over five yearstied the team to the quarterback for almost all the duration of the contract. They cannot sell Watson and even fire him without serious financial consequences. The contract was already unpopular since the offer for Watson got here when he was in front of him over 20 charges about sexual misconduct. As part of the contract, Watson also received enough money to allow him to settle any allegations out of court, making it virtually unimaginable for him to face any legal consequences for any wrongdoing. In short, it was a morally invalid decision for the Browns.

But that wasn’t Watson’s biggest sin within the eyes of many fans, who continued to go to games, root for the team, buy T-shirts and support a franchise that went out of its way to make the accused sexual assault man the face of its franchise. For these fans, Watson’s best sin was that he was bad at football – he would end the season as… worst quarterback within the league. He led the worst offense the Browns have seen this century. And combined with a coach who refused to let him sit on the bench, Watson’s stick with the Browns was a nightmare. Therefore, as soon as Watson entered the sphere, he was whistled. Yes, of course there was a large group of fans who were against him and expressed their opinions about it. However, there have been still enough people willing to fill stadiums every week, hoping that Watson could deliver a Super Bowl victory. Enough people whose boos filled the world on Sunday in a way they hadn’t within the weeks and months leading up to Watson’s on-field defeat. The deafening booing on Sunday was like a booing that hadn’t been there before. If fans were this anti-Watson, the taunts would have reverberated from the moment he stepped onto the sphere in a Browns uniform and would never have stopped.

And this is not about singling out Cleveland fans. I live in Atlanta, near the Falcons, who were also willing to step up to the plate for Watson. I actually have little question that the stadium here can be just as packed for Watson to play. I actually have been given no reason to imagine that society as a whole is willing to put the well-being of women above our own selfish desires, even when those desires are as shallow as wanting the team we love to win a championship.

But on Sunday, fans in Cleveland booed. And they cheered loudly once they realized the franchise can be without Watson for all the season. The cheers drew the ire of Watson’s peers, namely Browns quarterback Jameis Winston and linebacker Myles Garrett, who expressed how upset they were with fans rooting for Watson’s injury.

Winston passionate requests included comments equivalent to “I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve Deshaun.”

“I’m very upset about the reaction to a man who has had the world against him for the last four years,” Winston said. “And every day he put his body and his life on the line for this city.”

Garrett suggested it: “Man does almost the whole lot well. A model citizen in college in addition to professionals. He’s playing as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen… We have to be there for him as a team and as a corporation. We cannot have a look at a guy for mistakes on the pitch or anything off the pitch. We haven’t any moral basis to look down on this guy.

The comments were disappointing at best, but more specifically, offensive to anyone who has experienced or survived sexual assault of any kind, especially from Watson himself. Watson had “the world against him,” as Winston said, largely because of his righteous anger on the person accused of doing what he accuses Watson of doing. And someone with “the world against him” doesn’t have a guaranteed $230 million to rest on. Garrett calling Winston a model citizen is a slap within the face. I actually have asked previously why Watson’s teammates so quietly refused to share a locker room with someone accused of sexual harassment. In a league that excommunicates players it doesn’t like on a regular basis (ask Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, for example), why hasn’t this happened in Cleveland yet? Unfortunately, Winston and Garrett gave us a glimpse into a locker room that simply didn’t consider Watson’s alleged crimes egregious enough to speak out against him. Players like Winston and Garrett might argue that playing against their very own quarterback can be unpopular, but defending someone with Watson’s history should not be that unpopular.

Perhaps probably the most disappointing reaction of the night got here from Ohio State’s LeBron James. He he tweeted his disappointment on fans booing Watson: “Cleveland fans! You all know how much we have been through over the years, both good, bad and indifferent. With that in mind, booing anyone who is injured, let alone your own player, is LAME AF,” he wrote.

James is not latest to his support of Watson. He sent out a celebratory tweet when Watson joined Browns in 2022. It’s a sad irony after we visit James’ timeline on X, formerly generally known as Twitter, and see that his last two tweets are in regards to the WNBA Finals, followed by a tweet expressing support for a man accused of molesting women.

James’ tweet. Support from Watson’s teammates. The boos that grew louder for Watson after his poor play allowed people like Watson to flourish within the face of terrible accusations. Every celebration, lost ticket and jersey purchased while Watson was a Brown was confirmation that even what he was accused of wasn’t enough to demand the team play higher. Each of these ways of supporting the team is not less than passive support for a terrible decision. And that does not even count the fans who fully supported Watson despite – or because of – what he was accused of.

Watson’s profession might be over. All that is still is the necessity for many individuals to look in lots of mirrors and wonder how we ever allowed his profession to get this far.