HOUSTON — Late last week, when details of the NFL’s suspension stance in the Deshaun Watson investigation began to privately circulate between parties involved in the case, a source in the middle of it all proposed that there was a single piece of information the league wanted publicly leaked. It was a nugget that would act like a public relations shield if Watson’s hearing before an independent disciplinary arbitrator didn’t unfold the way the league office thought it should.
In the event that happened, the source believed the NFL wanted the public to know what it had pushed for: A minimum suspension of one year.