HOUSTON – Deshaun Watson missed practice on Tuesday for the first time since Houston Texans’ camp began, but coach David Culley refused to explain why.
“Nothing new on Deshaun,” he said.
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Watson was on the field for the team’s first five practices but only participated in individual drills while the other three quarterbacks took snaps during team drills.
On Tuesday that changed when he did not take the field when the team donned pads for the first time this year and he was not seen during the almost two-hour practice.
Watson’s future is uncertain after he asked for a trade in January before 22 women filed lawsuits alleging that he sexually assaulted or harassed them in March. Houston police and the NFL are investigating the allegations, but no charges have been filed.
When pressed about why Watson was absent from practice after being out there every other day, Culley refused to provide any details.
“As I’ve said before, we’re day-to-day with him,” Culley said. “The only thing that’s changed from the standpoint of that is that we make a decision day-to-day based on what’s best for our football team and I’m going to leave it at that.”
Watson still wishes to be traded and reported to training camp solely to avoid being fined. He would have faced fines of $50,000 a day if he didn’t report.
Watson led the NFL in yards passing last season and signed a four-year, $156 million contract extension with the Texans last offseason. But he became unhappy with the direction of the team and requested a trade in January after the Texans, who won the AFC South in 2018 and ’19, sank to 4-12 last season.
General manager Nick Caserio signed veteran Tyrod Taylor to a one-year deal in March to give the team an insurance policy at quarterback if Watson can’t or won’t play this season. The Texans selected Stanford’s Davis Mills in the third round of this year’s draft, and he and Jeff Driskel, a recent free-agent signee, will likely compete to back up Taylor if Watson isn’t an option.
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