Cleveland Browns: Josh Gordon meets with Roger Goodell, return still on hold
Cleveland Browns receiver Josh Gordon met with Roger Goodell for the first time since his last failed drug test in March to discuss his potential reinstatement.
Josh Gordon has not stepped foot on an NFL field since the end of the 2014 season while serving his latest suspension for failing the league’s substance-abuse policy. Gordon met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this week in the lead up to Aug. 1, when Gordon can officially apply for reinstatement, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Sense I get is nothing is imminent on Josh Gordon’s return. He can’t even apply yet. The Goodell meeting is a normal step in the process.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 21, 2016
While Gordon has apparently begun the process of his possible return to the league, Goodell is not expected to hand down on a ruling until around the start of the season, if he rules at all.
Key thing to understand re: Josh Gordon is that the NFL is under no obligation to reinstate him at all. He is... https://t.co/jlwqph0CAV
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) July 21, 2016
The Browns organization has said they would be welcoming of Gordon if he should be allowed back into the league, but the team clearly is not holding their breath at this point, as they walked away from the draft with four receivers under their belt.
A week away from the start of training camp, it is expected that first-round pick Corey Coleman will be a main target should Gordon remain suspended.
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Gordon’s past has certainly not been a clean one as he has been suspended a total of 27 games since 2013, but in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, former Browns running back Jim Brown made it sound as though Gordon is on the right track.
"I’ve talked with Josh twice on the phone, and the last time I talked with him he sounded very motivated and I think he was in rehab and feeling good about it and discovering some things about himself,” Brown told cleveland.com at the Browns Foundation golf outing at Westwood Country Club. “He really seemed ready to take responsibility for himself."
As it stands right now, the Browns are wisely preparing for life without Gordon, but adding him back to this roster would no doubt provide an exponential spark offensively. With fellow Baylor products Robert Griffin III throwing to him and Coleman on the other side catching balls, it could be the best situation Gordon would have to succeed.
The problem comes in the fact that the announcement might not come until after the season has started. This would obviously put Gordon even more behind the program than he already is, and would likely delay his actual return to the field.
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With training camp scheduled to get underway a week from Friday, and the team’s first preseason game two weeks after that, fans will be able to their first good look at what this team looks like as is, and get to dream about what adding Gordon would look like.