The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Browns burst out of the gate in free agency
The Browns were nearly as active in setting the table on the first day of free agency as they were through trades, beefing up depth on the offensive and defensive lines as the league year begins today.
Eight-figure salaries are being handed out by NFL teams like Halloween candy as free agency hits full throttle, but Josh Gordon isn’t getting one of them.
Instead, Gordon on March 13 signed for 2018 at the two-year veteran minimum for $790,000 as an exclusive rights free agent after being tendered by the Browns, NFL Network reported.
An ERFA is a player whose contract expired after only one or two years in the league. Gordon was a rookie in 2012, but because of multiple suspensions for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, he has accrued only two seasons. A tendered EFRA is prohibited from negotiating with another team.
A player must be on the 53-man roster for at least six games to earn an accrued season. Gordon was on the roster for five games in 2014 and five in 2017.
Gordon will be a restricted free agent a year from now if he doesn’t sign a long-term contract with the Browns before then. The Browns could tender him a contract next winter that would force a team signing him to compensate the Browns with a first-round draft pick if he signs an offer sheet and the Browns don’t match it
Gordon led the NFL in 2013 with 1,646 receiving yards.
He has played a total of 40 games over four seasons and has 179 catches for 3,089 receiving yards.
He caught 18 passes for 335 yards and a touchdown in five games for the Browns in 2017 after being reinstated.
Just to put how much money Gordon’s troubled past is costing him — not to mention he wasn’t paid a dime by the Browns in 2015 or ’16 because he was suspended both seasons — Sammy Watkins, a rookie wide receiver with the Bills in 2014, has 192 career catches for 3,052 yards. Watkins is signing a three-year, $48 million deal