When it comes to Browns receiver Josh Gordon, not much is known about his future. What is known is that the long-awaited hearing on the appeal of his one-year suspension will indeed happen soon.
On Thursday, Gordon’s agent gave the first official acknowledgement that Gordon’s day in court (sort of) is coming.
“Let’s just say [the hearing is] some point in the near future,” Drew Rosenhaus said after cornerback Joe Haden’s charity softball game, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I’m not permitted to divulge [the specific date].”
And that’s all he would say about Gordon’s situation.
“I’m not going to talk about Josh,” Rosenhaus said. “I’m here tonight to support Joe and a really nice event. I really don’t have anything to add about Josh’s situation. Right now that’s a league matter and as everyone knows he’s got an appeal coming up and I really won’t have anything to say about it until afterwards. . . . The CBA, the NFLPA regulations really encourage agents not to talk about that kind of stuff. It’s really confidential, and out of respect to Joe, I’m really here just kind of focused on his situation.’'
Per Cabot, Rosenhaus pointed out that Haden endured a four-game suspension for Adderall use in 2012, and that Haden has since cashed in with a $68 million contract extension. Of course, Haden’s suspension came from a one-time positive test. Gordon’s predicament has arisen from a pattern of violations of the substance-abuse policy, which implements a suspension after only several incidents and puts a guy on the brink of a one-year suspension only after he has failed more than a few times to comply with the rules.
Rosenhaus added that he’s “sure” he’ll be talking to the Browns about Gordon’s situation before training camp. It remains possible, but not likely, that the Browns will decide that there’s nothing to discuss, and that they’re ready to move on from a guy who arrived as a second-round pick in the 2012 supplemental draft.
It won’t matter for 2014 if Gordon ultimately receives a one-year suspension. It won’t matter beyond that if Gordon likewise can’t stay clean while banned from the sport.