Good-Bye Josh Gordon: This Time Don’t Come Back

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There are two sides to every story. One has Josh Gordon as a “victim” of the league trying to make an “example” out of him. The other side contains the truth.

This is the story of a man who blatantly disregards all respect for authority and takes no responsibility for his actions. Gordon’s problems started long before he made it to the NFL and before he ever even played a football game in college.

Gordon’s first arrest was when he was still in high school. He was arrested for possession of marijuana his senior year and pleaded no contest.

Gordon’s second offense came his second year in college. He was found passed out in front of Taco Bell with a teammate, Willie Jefferson. The police found marijuana in the car with them. Gordon was suspended since it was his first offense. Meanwhile, Jefferson was kicked off the team since this was his second offense.

Gordon’s third offense came eight months later. He tested positive for marijuana and was indefinitely suspended from the Baylor football program. Gordon decided to transfer to Utah to try and garner some playing time.

Gordon’s fourth offense came before he ever played a single game at Utah. Gordon admittedly failed a drug test while there, and decided to declare for the NFL Supplemental Draft, instead of facing a suspension at Utah.

In Gordon’s first year in the NFL, he suffered his fifth offense. He was suspended two games for testing positive for codeine. Gordon insists that this was a result of “prescribed cough medicine”. With this being his fifth offense, call me a skeptic. League insiders reportedly believe that Gordon was caught up in the “Purple Drank” craze. Purple Drank is a recreational drug that uses prescription cough syrup as one of its ingredients.

Gordon’s sixth offense occurred in March of 2014. Now there is a lot of controversy surrounding this suspension. He reportedly tested just above the acceptable level, in only one of his two provided samples. But for his sixth offense, it doesn’t matter he had failed another test.

While Gordon was suspended he suffered his seventh offense since high school, and his third in the NFL. He was arrested for a DUI in North Carolina. This is what led to the provision that Josh Gordon could not drink during the NFL season.

Gordon couldn’t do this and was just caught in his eighth offense since high school. He was tested after a plane ride following the Browns season ending loss in week 17. He admittedly had the equivalent of four alcoholic drinks on the plane. Gordon insists that he didn’t know that he had to wait until the entire NFL season was over, not just his season. For a player on his last straw, you would think he would have a better understanding of what is expected of him.

Gordon wrote a compelling letter following his latest violation, in which he claims that he is not an alcoholic or a drug addict. When asked earlier in the year if he had a drug problem, Gordon replied “Definitely not. I wouldn’t know what I was addicted to because I don’t do anything”.

So Josh Gordon’s excuse for his eight different offenses since high school (and this is disregarding that the Brown’s suspended him for the week 17 game this year for violating team policy) is that he has never done anything wrong. It’s all just a big misunderstanding; and the NFL hasn’t been fair to him.

When Gordon was asked about the NFL’s drug policy his response was ironic, “It’s definitely harassing for sure. You’re, like, on probation”. Josh Gordon you weren’t “like” on probation. You were on probation, for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

If you didn’t want to be on probation, you didn’t have to be, you could just walk away from football, then you could move to Colorado and smoke all the marijuana that you want. Or if you didn’t like being on probation, you could straighten up your act and stay off that list. Those are your two options if you want to play in the NFL. Follow federal laws or don’t play in the league. It’s not that much different from any other job really. But it’s not Josh Gordon’s fault that he can’t stay clean, it’s everyone else’s.