Jackson says Gordon is more mature

In a little more than three weeks, if all goes well, Josh Gordon will try something that by his own admission he has never done — play a football game with no alcohol or drugs in his system.

Gordon is back with the Browns after missing 51 straight games because of suspensions for violating the NFL substance abuse policy. He cannot practice until Nov. 20 and can’t play in a game until Dec. 3 when the Browns meet the Chargers in Los Angeles, but that time is coming. In the meantime, he can attend team meetings, do conditioning work and participate in individual workouts, such

as catching passes from the JUGGs machine away from team activities.

On Nov. 1, prior to a meeting with Commissioner Roger Goodell which resulted in him being reinstated on a conditional basis, Gordon told GQ magazine he had something in his system “Every game. Probably every game of my career.”

Sometimes, Gordon said, his pregame ritual involved marijuana. Other times it was alcohol. He won’t be able to get away with that now; the NFL could order a random drug test on Gordon just before the Browns run onto the field for the opening kickoff of any game he plays.

“I’m clean and sober and I’m looking forward to that,” Gordon said on Nov. 8 in the media. “I think the ceiling is very high. It’s a

fresh opportunity. It’s new for everybody, a fresh start for me. I’m looking to taking advantage of it and doing the best I can.”

Gordon played in Games 11-15 in 2014 but did not play in the 16th game because he violated team rules with the Browns. He did not play a down in 2015 because of NFL substance abuse violations, yet when the 2016 training camp began, he appeared to be in midseason form. Ultimately, that season ended in suspension, too, so it will be 1,078 days between games for Gordon if he does play against the Rams on Dec. 3.

“I think (I have) a newfound obsession of improvement, just wanting to get better and get better every day,” Gordon said. “Wake up every day with a new opportunity to be the best wide receiver I can be, to be the best teammate I can be, to be the best friend, every aspect of it.

“Just doing the most I can do without any type of regret,

without any type of shortcoming, ultimately knowing you’re not going to succeed at everything, but those failures all come with experience and learning lessons and that’s something I definitely take and something I need to use and something I do implement in my everyday life. But ultimately my goal is to be the best wide receiver of all time.”

The Browns have been here before with Gordon. Part of his reinstatement in 2016 included missing the first four games of the season as part of the 2015 suspension. Four days before he was going to start practice on the Monday before the fifth game, however, Gordon checked himself into a rehab clinic. That led to him missing all of last season.

“I was (shocked about what happened last year) because that was not the player that I saw and got to know, but those things happen,” coach Hue Jackson said on Nov. 6, the first day the media had a chance

to interview him since Gordon was reinstated. “We’re talking about a very serious problem. Those things do exist. We know they exist not just for football teams; they exist throughout the world, so it is an issue.”

Jackson did not meet with Gordon after the recent reinstatement until Nov. 7. Jackson says Gordon is more mature this time.

“I was really impressed sitting across from Josh and talking to him,” Jackson said on Nov. 8. “It was different than the time a year ago when he was back during the summer.

“I saw a young man (this time) who was a lot more mature, who understood exactly where he is and what he was trying to accomplish and do. We touched several different subjects, and I’ll keep that between me and him. I was very pleased with where Josh was. He looks in tremendous shape, and there’s a different look in his eye. I’m excited that he’s here.”