Deshaun Watson's Lawyer Says 18 Massage Therapists Are 'Deeply Troubled' By Claims

On Wednesday, Rusty Hardin released statements from 18 massage therapists who said Deshaun Watson acted professionally during their sessions with him.

In what can be seen as a move to counter the now 21 civil suits brought against Watson, Hardin said in a statement that over the past two weeks, his office has "received dozens of unsolicited phone calls, letters, emails and text messages from professional massage therapists who have worked with Deshaun Watson."

"These women say they are deeply troubled by the accusations made against Deshaun and that these claims are wholly inconsistent with their experiences with him and who they believe him to be," the release reads. "All of them stated that Deshaun never made them feel uncomfortable or demanded anything outside of the scope of a professional massage."

The Wednesday statement says none of the 18 women, that Hardin later names and quotes, "experienced any of the behavior alleged by anonymous plaintiffs in the numerous lawsuits filed by the same Houston attorney."

OutKick's ProFootballDoc said from his experience, that number of massage therapists is unheard of.

"Professional athletes find what works and stick with it. Sometimes this is just habit. Sometimes this is just comfort," he said. "Often the consistency and reliability are what helps get the best results. Certainly, some protocols may be tweaked, but it is rare to see a player bounce around from one person to another again and again."

ProFootballDoc said he's heard of rookies searching for the right masseuse and made recommendations to free agent veterans new to the area, but said it seems very unusual that a star player would need to be on such a search four years into his tenure in the same town.

"I have never heard of a situation of rotating through 16 (or 24 or whatever number of massage therapists) in a year," ProFootballDoc said. "To get the massage they want and trust, players often fly their masseuses to road games and put them up at the road team hotel to get their pregame ritual."

The 21 civil lawsuits suggest that 21 different therapists have filed complaints against him, although that has not been confirmed since the women are not named in the suits. Hardin has now named 18 more, totaling a possible 39 different massage therapists who have worked with Watson since his arrival in Houston.