CLEVELAND -- Josh Gordon has elite-level talent as a wide receiver, the kind of abilities that can change the fortunes of teams when he is playing at the top of his game, and that is why general manager John Dorsey gave him another chance with the Cleveland Browns.
After a full offseason of work with the club, it was announced the day before training camp that Gordon would miss at least part of the three-week session while working on personal matters and better preparing himself for the 2018 regular season.
While fans and media alike questioned whether Gordon would be a meaningful contributor at any point this season, the Browns had to take another chance on him because with his talent in an already improved receiver room, the team finally looks to have their affairs in order at a position that had been undervalued and misevaluated by each of the last two front-office regimes.
“I am confident that he is here,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said in a conference call with the Cleveland media. “I think that is the most important part.
“How long he stays, only Josh knows that, but I think he is in a much better place. I think we feel very good about where he is. I think all those things, as you guys know, are always fluid. That is always a concern, but at the same time, we are here to support, help and try to create the right environments for Josh.”
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The Browns got a glimpse of what a healthy and focused Gordon could do over the last five games of the 2017 season after his return from an NFL-mandated suspension that lasted nearly three full seasons.
In those five games, Gordon turned 18 catches into 335 yards and one touchdown. Additionally, Gordon was on the receiving end of five passes that went for gains of at least 20 yards and converted 12 first downs.
Against the Browns’ chief rival within the AFC North Division, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gordon showed speed and agility when he helped set up a touchdown, which trimmed the deficit down to seven points, 14-7, with 11:46 to play in the first half.
After securing the catch at the 15-yard line behind the coverage of two Steelers, Gordon hustled his way down the field, where it was originally ruled that he scored a touchdown. However, following a review, the officials ruled Gordon stepped out of bounds at the two-yard line.
“I think he is in condition, but is he in football condition where you are playing against professional athletes and the grind of doing that play after play after play?” Jackson said. “I don’t think that anybody is really prepared for that until you do it.
“Do I think that he can go out and participate in practice and do those things if he needed to? I do because I think I know Josh that way. He looks good. He is not overweight or anything like that. He looks extremely well and looks like he is in a good place and ready to get back into our program.”
Since joining the Browns through a second-round pick in the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft, Gordon has turned 179 catches into 3,089 yards and 15 touchdowns. A Pro Bowl player in 2013, Gordon set a franchise record with an NFL-best 1,646 yards on 87 receptions with nine of those catches going for touchdowns after missing the first two games of the season because of a suspension.
However, since that Pro Bowl season of 2013, Gordon was suspended for 44 consecutive games dating back to the final week of the 2014 season, which was a team ban for reportedly missing a walk-through prior to a trip to Baltimore to play the Ravens.
Gordon has been suspended for a total of 56 career games, 55 of which were NFL bans for positive drug and alcohol tests.
“As I humbly return to being a member of this team with an opportunity to get back to playing this game I love, I realize in order for me to reach my full potential, my primary focus must remain on my sobriety and mental well-being,” Gordon said in a statement announcing his return.
“Let’s get to work!”
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