"This would be quite the ruse if everybody was lying" - Pat McAfee hints he believes the allegations against Deshaun Watson

A New York Times report alleged that Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson visited 66 massage therapists in a 17-month span between 2019 and 2020. The report also had testimonies from multiple women claiming the quarterback coerced sexual contact.

The story came just one day after another woman filed a lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct against the former Houston Texans star, increasing the total number of complainants to 24. Retired NFL punter and podcast host Pat McAfee addressed the New York Times report recently, saying:

“Got [more] that continues to come out. And it seems like if there was 66 Women allegedly via the New York Times reporting 66 Women [masseuses] Deshaun Watson in 17 months, that's 3.87 women a month. There's four weeks in every single month. That's one per week for 17 straight months."

McAfee added that the report only covers a 17-month period, which is only a small timeframe. Considering Watson has been in the NFL for five years, the retired punter feels there's much more to uncover:

"We don't know. How long has been the NFL? I guess we can figure that out. That's only a 17 month period. What else is going on?"

The former Indianapolis Colts star also insinuated that the consistency in the stories of the women accusing the quarterback of sexual misconduct is pretty damning. He added that these lawsuits have become a huge problem for the NFL and the Browns:

"The stories all seem to be pretty similar.So this would be quite a ruse if everybody was lying. The NFL has quite a predicament here. Are the Cleveland Browns gonna be able to get out of the deal? Or are the Cleveland Browns gonna be able to avoid any of the guaranteed money that is $230 million dollars. We don't know."

Indianapolis Colts vs. Houston Texans

Deshaun Watson continues to plead innocence

The Browns star has largely been quiet as the number of women alleging him of sexual misconduct continues to rise. But in the wake of the New York Times report, Watson took to Instagram to deny the allegations creatively.

He posted a screengrab of the lyrics to Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and Rod Wave's song "Rich off Pain." The screenshot read:

"See, the blogs can't break me down, see, I'm the voice, I don't reply. But the rumors y'all done heard, I'ma humbly deny, yeah, yeah."

The quarterback later deleted the post, likely after getting an earful from his lawyers, but it's clear that he's sticking to his story and pleading innocent despite the rising number of complainants.

It will be interesting to see what happens next as this story develops.