Despite his off-field issues, Josh Gordon remains one of the NFL’s premier young wide receivers. As such, the Cleveland Browns are putting quite a price tag on him for teams potentially interested in him via trade.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported Friday that, while Cleveland isn’t actively out there shopping Gordon, it would be willing to part with him for “a second-round pick and then some.”
It’s worth mentioning that Gordon was selected by the Browns in the second round of the 2012 supplemental draft. It’s also worth mentioning that he is one more strike away from potentially never playing in the NFL again.
Gordon was reinstated by the NFL on a conditional basis last month after missing the entire 2015 NFL season due to a failed drug test in which alcohol was found in his system.
He’s still going to miss the first four games of the upcoming season as the final measure of his punishment for his third NFL violation of the drug policy.
Needless to say, Cleveland’s reported price tag is exorbitantly high, considering these issues.
Still, by floating the possibility of Gordon’s availability — albeit at an extremely inflated price — executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown is making it known that he’s still open for business after shipping former first-round pick Barkevious Mingo to the New England Patriots for a fifth-round pick.
Even more so, Garapolo reports there isn’t a single player on Cleveland’s roster who is “safe” from potentially being traded away, for the right price.
Perhaps things finally are different in Cleveland. Given the franchise’s long track record of inept moves, this could be considered a positive development.
But only time will tell if Brown’s moves will finally turn things around or if they will blow up, like all the other moves in recent memory.