Cleveland Browns' Josh Gordon confirms he faces year's suspension by NFL if there's another failed drug test
BEREA, Ohio -- Browns receiver Josh Gordon confirmed Monday that he's facing banishment from the NFL for at least a year if he violates the substance abuse policy again.
"I think that's what it is,'' he said. "I believe so.''
Cleveland.com reported in June that Gordon, who was suspended two games for a positive codeine test that he said was in his cough syrup prescription, faced a year's suspension with another failed test. In that case, he'd have to apply for reinstatement from Commissioner Roger Goodell.
But why will it be different for a player who failed three marijuana tests in college and who already has two strikes against him in the NFL, including the failed codeine test?
"For the simple fact that there’s no chances,'' Gordon said. "There's not too many chances really left out there, no room for mistakes for me. It’s either get it right or that’s it."
It echoed CEO Joe Banner's words in June, when he noted, "Gordon knows that the rope that's left isn't long."
Gordon, acquired in 2012's supplemental draft, knows that not only is his future with the Browns at stake, but with the entire NFL.
“I feel like it’s a last chance opportunity for the league,'' he said. "Nobody just wants a problematic type of person in their program or their organization because of how they’re perceived to be. So I definitely want to stay away from controversy as long as I can, forever. That’s definitely my No. 1 priority."
But Gordon doesn't feel the Browns should have to follow his every move.
"Nobody should be a caretaker for me at this point in my life,'' he said. "I should be seen as a grown man and have the responsibility for the actions I'm taking and I have to look at it that way. I can't expect to have to somebody there for me, to be in my ear to do this and do that. You've just got to know right from wrong.''
But that sentiment -- and his looming suspension -- weren't enough to keep Gordon from revving his camouflage-painted sports car up to 98 mph in a 60 zone one night midway through training camp. He was ticketed and paid a $150 fine last week.
"It's something I have to deal with, and it's a mistake I made that I definitely shouldn't do ever again,'' Gordon said. "It's a little hard to gauge the speed. It might jump from 70 to 80 to 90 sometimes in the faster cars. I drive a pretty fast car.''
He said both the suspension and the speeding violation, for which he's been reprimanded by the team, have changed his mindset.
"It definitely has,'' he said. "Just being taken away from (the game), it's a humbling experience for me. You find an appreciation for the game. The absence of it makes the heart grow fonder in a sense. That's really what it's about for me right now.''
He said he hopes he can regain the trust of his teammates, who have gone 0-2 and scored 16 points in his absence. The Browns' passing game has been hamstrung without its premier deep threat, who averaged 46 yards on his five touchdown catches last season.
"I hope that the trust is still there from before,'' he said. "But it's something I'm definitely going to have to earn back I believe through making plays and showing how hard I can go out there during practice and the game, not just myself but everybody. We need to trust together and it's a big commitment thing for me and they have to see that in me."
He's grateful to have the suspension off the books so he can focus on football.
"It's a big deal,'' he said. "I know it was a looming-type cloud just behind me of negativity, so I'm glad to be back on the field and hopefully more people can focus on that."
He added that he hasn't talked to Browns' special advisor Jim Brown about his situation. Instead, Gordon's confided mostly in his brothers and his mom about his ordeal.
"It hurts them just as much as it hurts me,'' he said. "They want to see the best come out of me and they know what I'm capable of doing and possibly becoming. But when I upset them and let them down, it impacts me a lot harder than somebody else talking to me about it."
Unlike Joe Haden, who had to spend his four-game Adderall suspension away from the Browns' facility because it fell under the steroid and related substances policy, Gordon was permitted to work out in Berea and attend team meetings.
"It was definitely the best thing for me,'' he said. "It was a good thing to be able to stay in the same rhythm and the routine that everybody else goes through and that you normally have. To not fall off too far or step back from where you’ve been. It was a great benefit for me.''
On two occasions during his ban, he visited children from the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland.
"I spent some time with the less fortunate inner city kids, 55th and Broadway I believe,'' he said. "Being around them helps you humble yourself, come down to earth a little bit to see how much of a blessing it is to do what you do for a living.''
Gordon knows the team is counting on him to inject new life into the sluggish offense -- one that might be without Weeden (sprained thumb) this week -- and he's happy to oblige.
"I'd definitely try to do my best to change the outcome of the game in any way I could, to be a playmaker,'' he said. "The 'What if?’ game is a hard game to play with that. I can't just say it's myself (that we're 0-2) or anything like that. I definitely want to go out there and help in any way I can and go 100 percent. It's a long season and I definitely think the rhythm will get there and it will get clicking with or without me being the reason why. I just want to be an extra piece of the puzzle to help us put it all together.''
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