With Browns receiver Josh Gordon facing a one-year suspension that he’s not expected to be able to defeat via the appeal process, his time with the team probably is over. After not having him for 10 games to start 2014 due to a marijuana violation and suspending him for the regular-season finale after missing a walk-through practice, the Browns now won’t have Gordon for all of 2015.
He arrived in 2012 via the second-round of the supplemental draft. Despite plenty of warning signs regarding marijuana use in college, the Browns under former CEO Mike Holmgren, G.M. Tom Heckert, and coach Pat Shurmur rolled the dice, likely knowing that with Jimmy Haslam poised to purchase the team from Randy Lerner, a strong season would be a key to remaining employed. So why not use the 2013 second-round pick in July 2012, if there’s a chance they won’t be there to use the pick in April 2013?
A negotiated two-game suspension to start the 2013 season showed that concerns about Gordon were well founded. But the Browns could have traded Gordon before the October deadline, and ultimately Haslam prevented president Joe Banner, G.M. Mike Lombardi, and coach Rob Chudzinski from doing so. After the season, Gordon had outlasted a pair of team presidents, a pair of General Managers, and a pair of head coaches.
Then came the news at draft time that Gordon was facing a one-year suspension. The Browns didn’t draft a single receiver to replace him, even though they could have had Sammy Watkins with the fourth pick or Odell Beckham after trading down with Buffalo to No. 9.
Now, Gordon has once again let the Browns down, and it becomes very hard for the Browns to trust him again. If he’s reinstated in a year, the Browns would be wise to trade him. This time around, they surely won’t get anything close to what they could have gotten in 2013.