The terrible tale of Josh Gordon
The biggest what if in my eyes in the NFL today is, what if Josh Gordon got the help he needed what kind of wide receiver would he have been? Coming into the league in 2012 he was the only pick in the supplemental draft by the Cleveland Browns and at that time the Browns were the Browns just a rotting franchise going through their QB carousel. In his rookie year Josh had 50 catches for 805 yards with 5 touchdowns with Brandon Weeden throwing him the ball. His 2013 season was his coming out party 87 catches for 1,646 yards and 9 touchdowns. There was a future star in the making in Cleveland.
2014 is where the downfall of Josh Gordon began. Playing in only 5 games he was suspended from the league for violation of substance abuse policy. The star for Josh dimmed and would be an after thought. Fast forward to 2018, 4 years after his suspension Cleveland traded him away to the New England Patriots. In New England Josh would slowly build up his resume catching 40 balls for 720 yards and 3 touchdowns. Things were looking good for Josh until a bye week in 2019 where he fell back to his old ways. Failing a substance test Josh was again suspended from the league. His last go around in Seattle was a bust playing in only 5 games and now being suspended indefinitely again.
Josh probably could have been an all world wide receiver in this league if the NFL could only give this man help. The life style he was brought up in didn’t help matters. In college at Baylor, Josh admitted to drinking before every game. NFL is by far the biggest money maker out of all 4 pro sports in America and its sad that you see this happen to so many players. Why they haven’t gotten Josh and so many the help they need from a sport where substances are used to get the high of hitting and being hit to sooth the pain. It’s another black eye for the NFL that will turn a blind eye to another player going down a dark path and never recovering from it.
It’s time the NFL uses their resources to help these players that desperately need it. Josh had out of this world talent that was wasted on drugs, performance enhancing drugs, and alcohol. Josh even sold his Super Bowl ring he won with the Patriots to get money since he was still playing off his original rookie deal. Hope this is the last star that goes down this path but know for a fact it won’t be.
