Why Would the Cleveland Browns Trade Josh Gordon?
By Zac Wassink
One would not have to look far to find a rumor involving the Cleveland Browns potentially trading wide receiver Josh Gordon. Why would the Browns give up on Gordon after all of this time?
The argument for the Cleveland Browns keeping wide receiver Josh Gordon up through the start of the 2016 National Football League regular season is one that a knowledgeable football mind could produce in his sleep. In short, Gordon’s undeniable talent and athletic skills coupled with his troubled and well-documented past likely means that the Browns would not get good enough value in any trade that involved the play-maker who will turn 25 years old in April.
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More on why the Browns should keep Gordon for now can be read here.
Yet, it seems as if a week does not go by without Gordon’s name being mentioned in some new trade rumor that links him with a team such as the New York Giants, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens or some other franchise. It probably has not helped matters that Gordon has, via his official Twitter page, liked Tweets that have mentioned him potentially playing with the Giants and alongside wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and quarterback Eli Manning.
These rumors likely have more to do with the fact that this is the “silly season” of the NFL year that occurs after a Super Bowl concludes but before free agency officially opens than with the Browns actively shopping Gordon. Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland (via Austan Kas of NumberFire.com) reported last week that he believes the Browns were planning on keeping Gordon. Remember, also, that Gordon has not yet been reinstated, so the Browns technically can’t do much about his status until he gets welcomed back with open arms by the NFL.
Gordon is currently on an indefinite suspension following repeated violations of the league’s substance abuse policy.
While some Cleveland fans may want to quickly erase even the notion of the Browns trading Gordon, they should understand that such a transaction occurring before the summer months is not out of the realm of possibility for a wide variety of reasons. In fact, one could easily argue for the Browns parting ways with Gordon as quickly as possible were the right conditions to arise.
For starters, Gordon has never had a working relationship with new Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson. Jackson was employed by the Cincinnati Bengals when the Browns acquired Gordon’s rights back in 2012. Neither Jackson nor the current front office of the Browns scouted and selected Gordon. They have little to lose in distancing themselves from Gordon due to the player’s inabilities to follow certain NFL regulations about what he can and cannot do off of a football field.
Gordon has not, to our knowledge, engaged in any activities since February 2015 that would prevent him from being reinstated by the league. Perhaps, however, the Browns have reasons to believe that Gordon will not, for whatever reason(s), be able to remain out of trouble for any significant length of time. Recent examples of talented young men who have not been able to “get it” include wide receiver Justin Blackmon and running back Joseph Randle.
Both Blackmon and Randle have probably played their last downs in the NFL.
Jackson and others making such decisions for the Browns must have complete confidence that Gordon will not let them down and that he will stay on the straight and narrow if he is eventually reinstated. Without that confidence, the Browns trading Gordon doesn’t just make sense. It is the only sensible decision that the Browns could make considering that Gordon is one mistake away from essentially being perma-banned from the NFL.
There is, of course, something to be said for a change of scenery. Cris Carter has, in interviews and during television segments, publicly discussed how being cut by the Philadelphia Eagles helped him change his life and become a Hall of Fame wide receiver. It is widely believed among those in NFL circles that Brett Favre would have never become one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game had the Atlanta Falcons not dealt him to the Green Bay Packers.
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Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Gordon were to get reinstated and then approach the Browns about wanting to make a move to a new team. The Browns should, in this simulation, give Gordon what he wishes. A Gordon who is not 100 percent committed to being a member of the Browns up through at least the remainder of his contract is worth about as much to the team as, well, as much as Gordon has been worth to the Browns since the start of the 2014 NFL campaign; not a lot.
There could, lastly, be a different NFL team that is willing to take the leap and invest up to a second-round pick for Gordon despite the fact that he is closer to being suspended forever than he is to earning a second NFL contract at this rate. The Giants are the perfect example, even though the franchise has a history of avoiding players with the history and reputation had by Gordon.
The previously mentioned Manning turned 35 years old last month, and the window for Eli guiding the Giants to one more Super Bowl championship is closing. A trio of Manning, Beckham and Gordon could make for a dynamic offense that would immediately have to be considered to be the best in the NFC East and one of the best in all of the league. Even having those three together for a single season would be worth a high draft pick for the Giants.
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This is all obviously nothing more than mere speculation about somebody who is not even a NFL player as of the posting of this piece. The point is to remind Cleveland fans who are already dreaming of seeing some rookie quarterback throw touchdowns to Gordon that the Browns dealing Gordon is not and should not be out of the question. Whatever the Browns decide, the team had better get this decision right.
Being wrong on a player such as Gordon would be another black eye for a franchise that has won nothing of merit in over a decade and a half.