Reflecting on Josh Gordon
By: Ken Fernando
History has its fair share of one season wonders. For the Cleveland Browns, it happens quite often with the team’s luck over the past years. I can name a few on the top of my head but it would be too painful. In my opinion, Josh Gordon has to be the biggest one season wonder and biggest what-if for the Browns. Let’s take a look back at what happened in his fairly short career.
Josh Gordon had a tough life growing up. At an early age, he lost his father, moved from house to house and started taking drugs such as Marijuana and Xanax while in 7th grade. He moved from different schools due to behavorial issues but that didn’t stop his athletic career. He was a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball and track and field. His basketball talent was so evident that he received a scholarship to play for Westbury Christian, but was kicked out due to marijuana. He ran the 4×100 and 4×200 m relay leading Lamar High School to a state title for both events. For football, he caught 25 passes for 531 yards and nine TDs. He was rated as a two/three star talent and chose to go to Baylor University. A big reason was that he had parole in the state of Texas and couldn’t leave the state.
As a true freshman, Josh barely played any snaps. As a sophomore, he showed out big time. In 13 games, he caught 42 passes for 714 yards and 7 TDs. However, marijuana got the best of him again as he and a former teammate were caught with it and he was suspended during his sophomore season. Another instance with marijuana got him suspended and he later transferred to the University of Utah. He skipped the season and joined the 2012 Supplemental Draft. The Cleveland Browns took him in the 2nd round.
His first season was a massive success as he was one of the best rookie receivers in the league. In 16 games, he caught 50 passes for 805 yards and 7 touchdowns. The season after would turn out to be the best as he had 87 receptions for a league-high 1,646 yards and 9 TDs. This year had insane games where he had 237 and 261 receiving yards in back-to-back games. He also got into his first Pro Bowl all while missing 2 games to start the year due to violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.
The trust from the Browns slowly wavered as the violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy continued for Gordon. From 2014-2018, he only played 11 games for Cleveland. He was then traded to the New England Patriots where he had a bounce back season. He caught Tom Brady’s 500th TD which is a fun fact. In 11 games, he had 720 yards and 3 TDs. He would then take a break to help his mental health but the NFL gave him an indefinite ban for the durg policy. He then bounced around from the Seahawks, Chiefs and Titans before he was released by Tennessee in 2022. Josh played in the FCF and XFL before announcing his retirement on September 2024.
Josh Gordon was a story where all the talent was there but his demons got the better of him. We wish all the best to a healthy life to Josh Gordon.
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