On the same day that the Browns will open the door for Deshaun Watson to return to the team during his ongoing 11-game suspension, the Texans have begun to close the books on him, in one very specific way.
The Texans have announced that, for the next five days, they will buy back Deshaun Watson jerseys. Without mentioning Deshaun Watson.
Instead, 44-percent discounts will be applied for those who exchange jerseys for “Texans players originally acquired during the 2017 - 2021 seasons who are no longer on the Texans’ roster.” So while that obviously includes others, Watson is the Texans player acquired from 2017 through 2021 whose jersey was most heavily purchased.
The timing seems extremely odd. The announcement ties the buyback to the team’s bye week. Obviously, they could have done this weeks or months ago. Instead, it’s happening on the day that Watson has been allow to re-enter the Browns facility in advance of the eventual return to Houston, for a Week 13 game between the Browns and Texans.
It likely won’t even be a footnote eight weeks from now, when Watson returns to Houston. Still, it’s a strange wrinkle to one of the strangest stories the league has seen in recent years.