Former Patriots receiver Josh Gordon announced he’ll be stepping away from the team due to mental health issues, and it didn’t take long for news to break about him violating the substance abuse policy — again. Gordon will be going for mental health and addiction counseling. For anyone suffering with these issues and looking for help, online counseling is available at https://www.betterhelp.com/online-counseling/.
Gordon was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, and has been suspended indefinitely. At this point, it’s starting to look as if his tenure in the NFL is over, and that he’s out of chances.
As for the Patriots, they’ll have to continue on this season without a vertical receiving threat, so it will be “next man up” per usual. Head coach Bill Belichick was asked about Gordon during a press conference on Friday, and he had this to say.
“I spoke with Josh (Thursday) morning, as I have several times since he’s been here,” Belichick said. “It’s obviously an unfortunate situation, and personally, I wish him the very best, as we all do on this team. He’s made a statement, the organization’s made a statement, the league’s made a statement. I’ve spoken on him at length over the last three months, and so I don’t really have anything at this point to add to that. It’s a private matter, and I hope that he’s able to deal with it successfully.”
Bill Belichick opens his news conference with remarks on Josh Gordon. pic.twitter.com/mPCrvCUEJB
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) December 21, 2018
Belichick probably isn’t thrilled about the team being undermanned at receiver — which will force Cordarrelle Patterson to step up — but he does seem to be concerned about Gordon’s well being, just like the rest of us.
The Patriots took a flier on Gordon earlier in the season, when they acquired him via trade with the Browns. Gordon never really took any games over, as we’ve seen him do in the past, but he did go over 90 receiving yards three times.
But it appears his run in the NFL may be coming to an end, as he’s been suspended indefinitely by the league, and it could be over a year until he’s reinstated again. The NFL released a statement on the issue:
“Effective today, Josh Gordon has been returned to the Reserve/Commissioner Suspended list indefinitely for violating the terms of his conditional reinstatement under the Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.”
It would be interesting to know if the Patriots were aware of this issue before Sunday’s game, as Gordon had only one catch for 19 yards, with quarterback Tom Brady rarely even looking in his direction. It’s possible that the Patriots were using Gordon as a decoy to draw coverage — as he did on Chris Hogan’s touchdown — but it sure looked as if they were freezing him out, which, given this recent update, is certainly possible.
We do wish Gordon the best in his recovery going forward, but it’s starting to look as if his tenure in the NFL has come to a close. He may have run out of chances.
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