CLEVELAND, Ohio – The NFL is reviewing the latest allegations against Deshaun Watson under its Personal Conduct Policy, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told cleveland.com on Tuesday.

McCarthy also said that the Commissioner’s Exempt list is not under consideration because there’s been “no formal charges and the league’s review has just begun.”

The Commissioner’s Exempt List, at the discretion of Roger Goodell, enables the league to place a player on paid leave while reviewing their case or unusual circumstances. The player doesn’t count against the active roster, and can’t practice with the team or play in games.

The Browns currently have rookie defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. on the exempt list while his criminal charge for domestic violence plays out. His pre-trial hearing has been pushed back from Sept. 10 to Sept. 19th.

The Browns said in a statement of Watson’s latest lawsuit, “We will respect the due process our legal system affords regarding the recently filed civil suit and follow the NFL’s guidelines on this matter.”

Watson was sued Monday in Houston by a woman who claims Watson sexually assaulted her on a date.

The filing came a day after the Browns lost 33-17 the Cowboys in the opener at Huntington Bank Field. The allegations follow more than two dozen lawsuits brought by massage therapists in Houston, who accused Watson of sexually assaulting them.

The quarterback settled most of those cases in the past two years. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Watson’s attorney in the previous lawsuits, Rusty Hardin, for comment. Court records do not say if Hardin is representing Watson in the latest lawsuit.

“This is an extremely serious matter,” Tony Buzbee, the woman’s attorney, said in a statement provided Monday to The Washington Post. “We intend to pursue this case with the same aggressiveness with which we pursued the others. We want a jury trial. As far as any specific comments on the facts of the case, we believe the lawsuit speaks for itself.”

The woman is seeking $1 million in damages after the two sides failed to reach a settlement. Buzbee also represented the 23 women with whom Watson settled, and had one suit dropped. One is pending.

The newest lawsuit, filed in Harris County District Court in Texas, alleges that Watson met the woman in July 2020, when he still played for the Houston Texans. They later arranged to meet for dinner at the woman’s apartment in October 2020.

Watson went to the apartment and unexpectedly disrobed, according to the lawsuit. He got on her bed and demanded a massage.

“While Jane Doe stood there in shock, Watson turned his head and aggressively insisted that she massage him, gesturing to his buttocks,” the filing said. “Jane Doe asked if Watson meant he wanted her to massage his back, but Watson indicated that it was his buttocks he wanted massaged.

“Jane Doe was at this point in the encounter terrified.”

Watson, according to the filing, became upset with the weak massage, and he sexually assaulted the woman, the filing says.

“Jane Doe felt paralyzed, unsure if she should risk her safety by trying to stop Watson or endure his assault,” the lawsuit says. “Jane Doe finally gathered the courage and strength to escape Watson.

“Jane Doe quickly ran to her dresser to grab a heavy piece of decor for self-defense and yelled at Watson to get out of her apartment. Enraged, Watson stormed out of Jane Doe’s apartment.”

The filing says the woman worried about reporting the allegations, based on Watson’s star status in Houston.

“She worried that if she reported it she would be subject to humiliation and personal attacks,” the suit says.

Since the incident, she has suffered from panic attacks and nervous breakdowns, according to the suit.

Cleveland.com staff and reporter Adam Ferrise contributed to this story.