The Browns have been waiting more than 1,000 days for Josh Gordon to play in a game.
So when someone asked coach Hue Jackson if Gordon was going to start Sunday against the Chargers, he could only laugh.
“Heck yeah, are you kidding me?'' Jackson said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Yeah, he’s going to start — right away. I’m kind of surprised you’d ask. You have to play your good players, right?’'
Well, there is the small matter that he was only activated this week, and hasn’t played in a game since Dec. 21, 2014 because of multiple drug suspensions. But the notion that Gordon might be on any kind of limit seemed to be nothing Jackson was considering.
“Let it rip,’' Jackson said. “Pitch count? With this guy?
“He’s done a good job this week. He’s worked extremely hard. I think he’s excited about playing. It’ll be a big day for him. . . . It’s still going to be a little different for him, I don’t care what anybody says, but we have to transition him through that and help him through it. I think he’ll go play well, though.”
When Gordon came back from a 10-game suspension in 2014, they targeted him 16 times, and he caught eight passes for 120 yards. That was with a different coach (obviously, it’s the Browns) and a different quarterback (obviously, it’s the Browns), but there’s no effort from Jackson to hide the fact he’s going to be looking for Gordon to make an immediate contribution.