Deshaun Watson on if he experiences racism as a QB: 'Of course'

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was a legendary college quarterback, a high first-round NFL draft pick and set records his rookie season before suffering an unfortunate ACL injury in practice.

Imagine looking at Watson’s body of work and thinking, “you can’t count on a black quarterback.”

Yet, that was the exact quote from Lynn Redden, the superintendent of Onalaska school district, located 100 miles north of Houston, after Sunday’s Texans loss.

The Facebook comment about Watson, on a Houston Chronicle story, went viral and Watson faced questions about it during his Wednesday news conference. One question asked if Watson has dealt with racism as a quarterback.

“Of course,” Watson said without hesitation.

Deshaun Watson wouldn’t criticize school superintendent

Here’s Watson’s full quote from his news conference (h/t to James Palmer of NFL Network), after being asked about facing racism as a quarterback:

“Of course,” Watson said. “I mean, it’s everyday life, I guess. I’m all about love, so I don’t have none of that, I don’t focus on none of that, I love all people. That’s what I focus on.

“It’s part of life. I can’t control other people, what their beliefs are. I can control what I can control. I just focus on me, and that’s it.”

Watson was asked specifically about Redden, and he took the high road. He was asked if Redden should be fired.

“That’s not my job, I don’t make that decision,” Watson said.

On the comment itself, Watson didn’t fire back at the superintendent.

“That’s on him,” Watson said. “May peace be with him.”

Texans coach rips ‘ignorant, idiotic statements’

It’s baffling, after Doug Williams and Mike Vick and Donovan McNabb and Russell Wilson and Warren Moon and Cam Newton and Steve McNair and Randall Cunningham and Patrick Mahomes and countless others, including Watson, that the following statement could be uttered in 2018:

“Over the history of the NFL, they have had limited success,” Redden told the Chron.com, in response to the backlash over his initial comment.

That’s why Texans coach Bill O’Brien ripped Redden’s comments.

“I don’t want to waste any time responding to ignorant, idiotic statements,” O’Brien said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “Deshaun represents everything that’s right about football and life. It’s amazing that BS exists, but it does.”

O’Brien’s comment about Watson representing “everything that’s right about football and life” probably goes back to Watson’s tremendous charity last season after Hurricane Harvey. Among other things, you can definitely count on Watson to be a great part of the Houston community.

Watson is already an NFL star

Watson is already one of the NFL’s stars. He came in with a great college pedigree and was incredible as a rookie. He hasn’t had a fantastic start to this season, but that’s understandable considering he was rehabbing an injury all offseason and has just eight career NFL starts. There’s little question about him as a player, however.

But, as Watson alluded to, there are still stereotypes of black quarterbacks. You can still find them in coded language before the draft. You’d think with the widespread success of black quarterbacks over the past few decades we would be beyond that, but we aren’t yet.

Watson shouldn’t have been spending a Wednesday news conference answering questions over what his coach rightfully described as ignorant, idiotic statements. But, Watson is used to it.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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