It’s been a little more than a year since Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a third violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, which means he’s been eligible to begin the process of getting reinstated for a couple of months.
At his Friday press conference in San Francisco, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed that Gordon has formally applied for reinstatement and outlined what needs to happen in order for Gordon to return to the football field.
“We did get the letter from Josh,” Goodell said. “The process is that we’ll go back and we’ll look at how he’s conducted himself over the last several months, what he’s done to make sure it’s consistent with the terms of a suspension and at some stage, we’ll have a report on that and I will engage with our people to understand where he is, where he’s been but most importantly where he’s going. When these things happen, it’s about trying to avoid them in the future. Our number one issue here is to prevent these things from happening. I’m hopeful that Josh understands that he’s going to have to conduct himself differently going forward to be a member of the NFL and to be representing the Cleveland Browns, or any team in the NFL.”
League spokesman Greg Aiello said last month that players “must demonstrate sustained abstinence” if they hope to be reinstated and often submit testing records to show that they have avoided the substances that got them suspended in the first place. Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland reports Gordon “is confident he has met” the terms necessary to return to the field.