Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is permitted to return to the team facility today for the first time since his 11-game suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy took effect on Aug. 30.
Starting Monday, Watson is permitted to participate in on-site rehab with the medical staff, meet with non-football staff, attend meetings and meet individually with head coach Kevin Stefanski, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and quarterbacks coach Drew Petzing. Watson is also permitted to participate in individual workouts with the strength staff and eat meals in the cafeteria.
Watson still is not permitted to attend group workouts. He cannot attend practices or games and cannot attend club sponsored events or do media.
Watson previously had not been allowed to have any contact with coaches, set foot in the building, or receive a game plan or playbook, per the terms of a settlement reached between the league and the NFL Players Association following an appeal of Watson's initial six-game suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy. In issuing Watson's six-game punishment in August, disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson wrote that "by a preponderance of the evidence," Watson, alleged by more than 20 women to have committed sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions, engaged in "sexual assault; conduct that poses a genuine danger to the safety and well-being of another person; and conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL."