Gordon reinstated, can play Dec. 3
Wide receiver hasn’t played since end of the 2014 season.
You knowthat CLEVELAND— star receiver theBrowns have been hopingwill ride in on a white horse and save them? He’s arrived. Josh Gordon is back.
TheBrowns’ oft-suspended Pro Bowl receiver has been reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell from his indefifinite drug ban on a conditional basis, the league announced.
He rejoins an 0-8 team in desperate need of receivers and a victory. But he hasn’t played since the second-tolast game of the 2014 season — almost three years ago, and was extremely rusty upon returning after a 10-game ban that year. Since the last time he set foot on the fifield, the Browns have gone 4-37.
Gordon, who met with Goodell at the NFL offices in New York on Tuesday, will be eligible to practice withthe teambeginningNov. 20 and eligible to play the last five games, beginning Dec. 3 at the Los Angeles Chargers. The five games leaves him one short for an accrued season, meaning the Brownswould retain his rights for two more seasons after this.
“Werespect andcommend Josh for taking the steps necessary to have the opportunity to return to the league,” Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown said. “Josh will be inour building in thecoming days andwelook forward to having him back and sitting with him to discuss his future on our team.”
TheBrownsareproceeding withcaution, understandably. They welcomedGordon, 26, backwith open arms before the 2016 seasonwhen hewas conditionally reinstatedwith a four-game suspension, and he relapsed before playinghis fifirst game. He checked himself into rehab for the third time at that point, and said he needed some time away to get his life together.
Some close to him said the stress andpressure of returning was too much, and he turned back to alcohol and other substances.
This time around, the Browns will spendevenmore time talking to himanddetermining where he is in his recovery from a decade of substance use.
But fresh offff a 90-day stint in a rehab facility in Gainesville, Florida, that ended in September — his fourth known time in rehab — Gordonhas saidhe’s determined to make it stick this time. He must have made a compelling argument to Goodell.
“We want him to have every opportunity to resume his career and to be successful in the NFL,” Goodell said in a release. “Whether that happens, however, at the end of the day will depend on Josh. His commitment to sobriety and to reaching his goals in football and beyond will determine his success. It ultimately is up to Josh.”