Could Deshaun Watson realistically win a lawsuit if he sues the NFL for suspending him?

The entire NFL world continues to sit back and wait for any sort of Deshaun Watson update. Will he be suspended or not? And if he is, how long will he be out for?

Yet there is a new wrinkle to the situation that has emerged this week. It has been revealed that the Cleveland Browns quarterback intends to sue the NFL in federal court if he is handed a full-year suspension.

Such information leaking out via the media seems to be a sort of threat thrown the league's way. Do they want to hand out such a suspension if it means more legal drama? The alternative is a short suspension that will lead to major fan backlash.

But a question remains: Can Watson successfully sue the NFL and win if he is given a full-season suspension?

Several unknowns remain in the Deshaun Watson lawsuit plan

Cleveland Browns Mandatory Minicamp

There are plenty of questions that come up immediately when hearing about this lawsuit. What appears to be true is that he would be suing and saying that he is being wrongfully suspended.

A counter to that argument is that, by settling so many of his civil lawsuits, there is an inherent admission of guilt or, at least, of some wrongdoing. He still has several pending lawsuits on the table as well, which are not magically going away anytime soon.

This ultimately comes down to how a judge will interpret the NFL's workplace and disciplinary policies. The league has protocols in place to suspend players for drugs, gambling, criminal convictions, and so on. Watson would have to be arguing that, since he was never convicted of something criminally, a full-season suspension is too harsh.

But what about Calvin Ridley's full-season suspension for gambling on the NFL? Could he then go to court, too, saying his punishment is too harsh? Remember, Watson is only planning to sue if he is out for the whole season. This seems to be a negotiation tactic as much as anything else in order to get a shorter suspension and move on from there.

This is a monumental mess for all sides involved, and the NFL is easily in a lose-lose situation. They are going to court if they ban him for the year, and risk immense public backlash if a suspension is seen as too light.

One important thing to remember is that much of this information is coming from leaks, which may be strategic in nature. That means NFL fans will have to sit back and wait to see what the ultimate ruling is. At this point, everything from no suspension to an indefinite ban have been floated out as possibilities for the quarterback. That shows just how many unknowns remain after all this time.

So could Watson actually win such a lawsuit? That is the biggest unknown of all, especially without more information on the exact arguments in place for both sides.