Texans HC Lovie Smith on Deshaun Watson: ‘Sometimes divorce is good’

Back in early March new Houston Texans head coach Lovie Smith admitted that he wanted the situation regarding star quarterback Deshaun Watson to “speed up a little bit.” Watson didn’t play during the 2021 NFL campaign following an offseason trade request while he was facing 22 lawsuits alleging acts of sexual misconduct and has since been dealt to the Cleveland Browns. Smith has repeatedly let it be known he’s all-in on 2021 third-round draft pick Davis Mills serving as his starter for this fall. 

Per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, Smith spoke with NBC’s Cris Collinsworth about the club’s former QB1. 

“Sometimes divorce is good, and that’s my statement that I’ve made a lot of times when you know a split’s going to happen, and both parties are going to win once it does,” Smith explained. 

While Smith didn’t get into details about the allegations made against Watson, he added that both sides simply needed to go in different directions.

“I don’t know exactly what happened. The accusations are there, and if they have merit that will all come out in time. But for our football team, we needed to move on,” Smith remarked. 

It’s widely believed Watson will receive some sort of suspension from the NFL, but it’s possible that ban won’t get announced until July. Mills, meanwhile, is cemented atop Houston’s depth chart and seemingly won’t be replaced by any proven commodity this summer.