Should The Browns Trade Josh Gordon?
Leading up to the regular season, there are a lot of storylines to keep an eye on. One thing to watch is the situation between Josh Gordon and the Cleveland Browns. During the past two weeks, there has been a lot of interest in Gordon, teams are calling the Browns hoping to get a deal done to land Gordon. Even though he is getting a lot of interest, should the Browns trade him?
In the 2014 season, Gordon had 24 receptions, 303 yard, and 0 touchdowns. This is coming off a breakout 2013 season where he caught for over 1000 yards and 9 touchdowns.
Even though he has not played since 2014, Gordon has potential that he can be a great wide receiver. Showcased during the 2013 season, Gordon has great hands, he is a deep threat that can burn the secondary with his speed. As long as he can stay on the field, he is one of the league’s most promising receivers.
After the 2013 season, it all went downhill for him. During the 2014 season, he was suspended for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. While he was on the sidelines, the league decided to reduce his suspension to 10 games. The team suspended him for the last game of the season due to a violation of team rules.
During that offseason, he was suspended again for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy this time for the entire 2015 season. During his suspension, Gordon was facing another year-long suspension. He filed for reinstatement in January, only to get denied for a failed drug test in March. On July 25th, Gordon was finally reinstated into the league but he can’t play in the first 4 games of the season.
During this past offseason, the team addressed the biggest hole that team has filled in so long and that hole was a starting quarterback when the team signed former top five pick Robert Griffin III. The team also hired Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to become the Browns next head coach.
Once he returns in week 5 depending on no setbacks, he will have to work hard to prove that he can produce at an elite level. Luckily for him, Griffin is a solid quarterback who can throw the ball and knows how to make plays with his arm. He will also have a good offensive minded head coach who will be looking to get the best out of him.
The Browns have a good potential franchise wide receiver when not in trouble in Gordon, it is really hard to find them in the league these days. So keeping Gordon would be a smart thing to do since he is in a new offensive system and he will want to prove himself.
On the other side of things, I would not be surprised if the Browns trade Gordon. He is receiving a lot of interest right now from teams around the league, and getting a second round pick and more is pretty good for him.
At the end of the day, the team should not trade Gordon. The team has stuck by his side in the middle of all of this, so it would be the right thing to do by keeping him on the roster and not trade him and see what he can do with this new offense.
If he does produce good numbers this season, the team will be happy about making the choice of keeping him and not trading him. Now if Gordon does not produce good numbers and is not the same, it would be the right time to trade him and give up on him.
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