To be honest, I don't know what to make of this whole Josh Gordon saga. The decision to grant him either a trade or his release seems clouded in the type of pessimistic uncertainty that you'd typically expect of his playing status, so it's a fool's errand trying to guess what he might actually have been guilty of this time. What I do know is that the Cleveland Browns, who have hung onto him through the forgettable up's and extended down's of a 4+ year span in which he was both available and active for all of 11 games, have more than enough reason to have finally had enough of this nonsense, no matter what this latest transgression was.
I, among many others, am rooting for Josh Gordon to overcome the addiction issues in his problematic past to realize some of his superhuman potential. His whole life has been a tragic tale, and it would be nice to finally mix in an uplifting chapter of redemption. That being said, the idea that he broke the Browns' trust is just about the furthest thing from laughable. I mean, this is the most encouraging offseason he's had since 2013, and it included him being granted a pass from the vast majority of training camp (potentially Hard Knocks related) while also having his regular season availability called into question due to a child support dispute. I know that Cleveland isn't what anyone would consider competent, so the jokes will be a plenty if this move ends up backfiring when he predictably ends up on the Patriots...
However, who are we to judge the weight of the straw that, after all this time, finally broke the back of a Camel that had to breathing heavier than Joe with all the baggage it's been carrying? What's a young team that's desperately trying not to be seen as a laughing stock supposed to do? Keep around a player who has found so many new and creative ways not play for them that whether or not he just sabotaged his way out of a city that he's openly criticized in the past by posing his way onto the injury report at the last minute is worthy of debate? We're probably about to learn really, really quickly whether or not Josh Gordon is simply too troubled an individual for a league in which even the most talented of players are so often expected to fall in line, as Bill Belichick will likely have dressed him up as trash or treasure by Halloween. Even if it ends up being the latter, I simply can't blame the Cleveland Browns for deciding this was their last stop on the Josh Gordon train, as it's done nothing but ride them around in turbulent circles and take them absolutely nowhere for the past four seasons. UPDATE: The compensation is...well...not great (for my argument), Bob!
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