Plenty of words have been used to describe Josh Gordon over the years, using some variation of “talented” or “explosive” or “enigmatic.”
He’s added to the lexicon since joining the Patriots this year.
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski expanded the vocabularly this week, describing Gordon as “reliable” — which probably makes people in Cleveland spit their coffee all over their screen this morning.
“He’s brought a lot,” Gronkowski said, via Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston. “The way he just plays. The way he catches the ball, gets that burst, gets us the first downs when we need it. Just another player on our team that’s reliable whenever we need him. Just great to have him. Great to have him as part of the team.”
The transformation of Gordon has been remarkable, and he’s talked about the differences in things as subtle as his conditioning. Along the way, he’s also brought the expected vertical element to the Patriots passing game, leading the team in receiving yards despite not joining the team until late September. He’s also leading all receivers in yards per catch (18.0) since Week Four.
“I would say in the first week when he got out there playing the game,” Gronkowski said. “Just the way he’s been working every single week, week in week out, just trying to get better, you see it on the practice field and then you see it in the game. It’s a great guy to have out there and just a phenomenal athlete, too.”
That part we knew. The idea of Gordon as an accountable player is a new one, and adds to the Patriots’ reputation for reclamation projects.