The Browns plan to either trade or release Josh Gordon by Monday, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com and ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Gordon, who did not appear on the Browns injury report all week, showed up late to the Browns facility on Saturday morning with a hamstring injury. Members of the Browns staff then became concerned about Gordon’s sobriety, according to Cabot.
Gordon, who had been out of football since 2014 after being suspended for multiple violations of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, was conditionally reinstated and returned to the Browns last season. Gordon missed the first three weeks of Browns training camp to ensure his mental and physical health before reporting in late August.
Within a week of his return, Gordon had tweaked his hamstring, causing him to miss Cleveland’s final preseason game, but the receiver started and played 69 snaps in the Browns’ Week 1 tie against the Steelers. Gordon said that he found out he would start that game “right before the offense went out on the field.”
Gordon may have suffered the hamstring injury at a promotional shoot on Friday night, according to Schefter, but Cabot reported that “trust was the bigger factor” in the Browns’ decision to part ways with the receiver.
If the Browns release Gordon, he will be a free agent who can sign with any team, though reportedly multiple teams are interested in a trade. According to Schefter, the Browns prefer to send Gordon to an NFC team, and Gordon is hoping to end up with either the Dallas Cowboys or San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys have been looking for an outside receiver since they released Dez Bryant in April, and Bryant is a candidate to replace Gordon in Cleveland. Gordon posted an Instagram story Saturday night thanking the Cleveland organization.
Gordon is listed as inactive for Sunday’s game and did not make the trip to New Orleans with the team.
