and the players’ union to oversee the disciplinary hearing, found that Watson violated the league’s personal conduct policy by engaging in unwanted sexual contact with another person, endangering the safety and well-being of another person and undermining the N.F.L.’s integrity.
The players’ union said before Robinson’s decision that it would not appeal, but after the suspension was announced on Monday the N.F.L.The league had argued to Robinson that Watson deserved at least a full-year suspension while the union had fought for a lesser penalty.
Robinson said that her decision to suspend Watson for six games was based on the penalties the league had meted out in other cases involving gender-based violence.If Robinson had found that Watson did not violate the personal conduct policy, there would have been no discipline and neither side could appeal.But she concluded that there was enough evidence, including the accounts of four women that she said were “substantially corroborated,” to support multiple violations of the policy by Watson.
The union may challenge the league’s appeal in federal court, as it has done over player conduct decisions in the past.