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In late September, when the proposition of acquiring Deshaun Watson continued to linger inside the Miami Dolphins,

it became clear to both the Houston Texans and the quarterback's legal camp that Miami owner Steven Ross wasn't getting a key piece of clarity that he really wanted.

You see Watson's 22 civil suits alleging sexual misconduct were still sitting in the Harris County District Court system with virtually no movement to speak of.

Conversely, there was no guidance available regarding a potential grand jury investigation into some of those very claims.

You see, both of those realities made Ross wary of a deal, particularly one that involved Houston's asking price of three first round picks and two second round selections for Watson.

So the message to Watson's camp and the Houston Texans was clear, if a trade was going to be consummated, the quarterback had to resolve the civil suits that were pending against him.

And to Watson's camp, that meant a global settlement of all 22 complaints needed to take place.

Now, that's something that Watson's advisors felt amounted to an admission of guilt.

Basically, if Watson engaged in a global settlement, he was very likely going to get a six game suspension.

All of this has been a significant hold up in the having and flowing Watson trade talks for almost a month.

The dolphins and by extension, the Texans have wanted Watson to be aggressive in pursuing a settlement so that all parties could move forward with some clarity.

But while that was something that the teams wanted, Watson and his camp have remained against it, staunchly adamant of his innocence and ready to take that argument into court.

Now, if a trade doesn't materialize and Watson stays on the Texans roster after the November 2nd trade deadline, this will be the primary reason why it happened.

Because Ross and the dolphins aren't willing to give Houston a full price bounty for Watson without some protections or clarity and Houston just isn't willing to take less than what it wants and refuses to structure some give back elements if Watson runs into a legal buzzsaw.

This has been going on for a while, all the way back to the summer when Miami was among several teams showing Watson interest, but all wanting either clarity on his legal future or protections against it.

The simple truth about a lot of the latest Watson reports is that they are basically reheated chicken, getting served with some different sauce.

As we reported in late August, the Miami dolphins were front runners for Watson. That never changed.

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