The Cleveland Browns have suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon on the eve of their season finale against the Baltimore Ravens for a violation of team rules.
Instead of ending his season on a positive note, Gordon is enveloped in controversy again.
Gordon was absent from the team’s walk-through practice on Saturday. Rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel also missed the walk through. But he’s on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, and it’s believed he was not required to attend the walk through. The Browns have not suspended Manziel, the 22nd overall pick in this year’s draft.
NFL Network first reported the absence of Gordon and Manziel.
The Browns elevated wide receiver Phil Bates from the practice squad to the active roster to fill the opening created by Gordon being placed on the reserve/suspended by club list.
Gordon served a 10-game suspension this season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He tested positive for marijuana this past offseason, received a season-long ban from the league because he’s a repeat offender and eventually had the punishment reduced to 10 games after the league and NFL Players Association struck a deal on revamped drug policies.
But Gordon, who’s under contract through next season, only ended up playing in five games instead of six because of the suspension issued by the Browns. NFL players must appear in six games to earn an accredited season toward free agency. Because Gordon fell one game short of the threshold this season, he’ll be scheduled to become a restricted free agent after the 2015 season instead of an unrestricted free agent.
A year after compiling 87 catches, a league-high 1,646 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in 14 games, Gordon finished this season with just 24 catches for 303 yards and no touchdowns. He earned first-team All Pro and Pro Bowl selections last season.
The 23-year-old Gordon also served a two-game suspension last season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. He blamed codeine-laced prescription cough medicine for triggering a failed drug test.
So Gordon has been suspended twice by the NFL and once by the Browns since former General Manager Tom Heckert picked him in the second round of the 2012 supplemental draft.
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