Gordon suspension reduced to 10, 12 if convicted of DWI

[macbdog]

You are making a wild assumption that his JOB is or has been a support structure. For starters, if he is relying on an NFL team to be his support- he is going to fall. Why? Becuase that team can cut him at the first injury. His support structure needs to be outside of his employer.

Also, being kept out of team facilities does not mean the league's substance abuse program is not also available to him. It is, has been, and will continue to be. Now THERE is where he can find actual support. If he wants it. Again, please stop with the crocodile tears because a repeat offender for different violations has been suspended instead of fired. When Gordon wants help, help is available. He had over 2 years to find that support in Berea and yet he kept sliding. I think it is obvious he needs more than just being in the practice facility.

 

[Lee]

Did Jordan Cameron disappear?

Yes, in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Simon]

It wouldn't surprise me if we weren't.

He didn't do so well vs. the Rams....

 

[macbdog]

He didn't do so well vs. the Rams....

I still remember when Browns fans were in convulsions over Alex Mack's first few NFL games and rookie year.

It takes time to acclimate to the NFL game. Gilbert has certainly shown glimpses. He is one youngster I am certainly not worried about, and I think even a shred of patience will pay off in regards to him. Browns fans will be dubbing him a top 5 shutdown corner soon enough.

 

[AZ_]

He didn't do so well vs. the Rams....

Good.

Peyton Manning struggled against the Rams as a rookie in 1998.

 

[I'mWithDan]

 

[Sly]

I still don't think he'll miss a game. This is going to go to the courts, they'll allow him to play while they consider the case. He's not going to say, 'Aww shucks', and go home. He plays, he gets paid. He gets paid, he can drag this along with lawyers until it gets swept under the rug, or until the players union and league alter the CBA. I think the league is just doing this to angle for HGH testing anyway. The league is going to really take this one on the chin publicly. They need a way out, in a way that allows them to save face, and I think the courts are a way to do that.

 

[Scholar]

Any other job, Talm, and Gordon is out on his ass after two failed drug tests let alone 4.

Actually, many other jobs, he either wouldn't have been tested, or wouldn't have failed some of those tests due to a different tolerance level of their tests. Also, I am not sure you'll find another job where a second test is taken to confirm his failure. But, when he passes it, that fact is largely ignored. The very nature of the NFL's testing system is flawed. If you are going to test a person twice and he passes one of the tests, he should then pass. Hell, the average of Gordon's two tests would pass.

 

[Kbiz]

Meh.....we had Gordon last year and we still sucked. Do people honestly believe Hoyer or Manziel would've changed that?

IMO, the Front office screwed the pooch here. Regardless of Gordon's outcome, we were still razor-thin at WR. Austin was supposed to be a reliable #2?

We should've taken a WR in this draft. I like the Gilbert pick...i like the Manziel pick...heck, i like all of our picks this year but there were good WR's available well into the third round.

We shall see...looks like a lot of ground and pound will be featured. Thats great when your feature back has had injury problems his entire career.

6-10, Here we come!

 

[Sly]

Maybe Jimmy will let Josh borrow his lawyers. Throw enough money at the lab tech and he might 'admit' that he made a mistake.

 

[EdMonix11]

Good lord. We get some bad news about Josh Gordon and all of a sudden Justin Gilbert is horrible, we have no running game, and our season went to shit.

I fail to see what's changed. Best case scenario, Josh Gordon would've been suspended for 8 games, but even that was a long shot. Seems like very few prepared for this to actually happen. Sucks to think about how hypocritical the NFL is but I think Goodell said something like you need 4 failed tests just to be placed in Stage 1 of the substance abuse program. Gordon doesn't really have a leg to stand on.

This is a young football team, certainly not a playoff team with or without Gordon. They have a ton of potential, especially on defense, and this season has always been a momentum type year so they can begin taking continual runs at the playoffs starting next year. If that prospect doesn't seem possible with the loss of Josh Gordon, then we have a much bigger problem than just Josh Gordon.

 

[Cavsfan1985]

Any other job, Talm, and Gordon is out on his ass after two failed drug tests let alone 4. If he was a healthcare professional his license would have been suspended for the codeine violation alone. The NFL cannot make his health a priority when he doesn't. The punishment is an incentive for him to get his shit together, a wake up call after the 3 prior slaps on the wrist, and counseling offers, and warnings, and 2 game suspension failed to get through. They tried the nice route, he hasn't gotten it. Now the tough love begins, and that tough love is a year of his career and earnings lost. Good luck to him, he needs it.

and the real draconian thing here is all the fans making excuses for him- just because he won't be catching passes for your favorite football team. You care even less than the NFL does for his health, because if you really gave a shit, you would want to see the guy get help. He is failing drug tests for multiple drugs, can't control his weed smoking like the rest of the fucking league does, is getting DUIs, and has his family concerned about his decisions. None of this is isolated. Yet all fans care is if he plays on Sunday. Give me a break from this 'high and mighty' crap regarding the NFL when the only motivation for being upset that Gordon has to face consequences for a 4th drug test fail is because it hurts your favorite NFL team.

What you have said is very well written, but I disagree to the notion that this should be black and white. We don't live in a black and white world. Even our criminal justice system is subjective on what is wrong and what is right, and has the power to adjust to the severity of the situation. It is a case like this, where a player had over 70 straight test be negative, and then has one test that is barely over the limit, and the second test which was under. As another poster pointed out, the average was under the limit. Think about this, had the second test been the first test there is no issue. This is why IMO you cant look at everything black and white.

Unfortunately this happened to us who are Browns fans, but I hope this goes to changing the system for the NFL. To me the only thing worse then this decision is the NFL not using it to fix policy.

 

[Amherstcavsfan]

Meh.....we had Gordon last year and we still sucked. Do people honestly believe Hoyer or Manziel would've changed that?

Well, we were 2-0 with Hoyer as the starter.

 

[Soda]

It is stupid to blame ONLY Gordon. The issues are separate. He is to blame for being suspended. The NFL is to blame for making a fucking mockery of this garbage. Nine month appeal process? For what people are calling a PIPE DREAM (shortened sentence)!?

This isn't a first for the NFL either. Aldon Smith did worse shit and we are still waiting on that ruling.

They aren't supposed to make harder for their player and teams, they just took a bad situation and made it worse. He obviously deserves what he gets, does he deserve to have it delayed that much? Maybe... Does the team deserve it!? No. There is no reason to have left the team in such darkness.

1) If the NFL bargained for the 1 year banishment, followed by lifetime banishment for one other misjudgment after failed drug tests, it was either a negotiating tactic (door-in-face negotiating (google it)), or just plain in bad faith to make the league look macho. "NFLPA agreed to it!" isn't a good excuse.

1A) DeMaurice Smith and whoever makes him look at the CBA is really stupid for letting this slide. And that's being nice. I'm guessing the NFLPA had salient points they focused on with regard to the drug discipline program and probably never even looked at this part of its structure. Very difficult to go through all of the agreement, although with how much money is involved, they should. Either that, or they're geniuses and knew the NFL would get killed when the policy was applied.

2) I'm surprised that the Union didn't negotiate a real timeline for appeals processes. Every other CBA in the real world has "reasonable time frame" defined. This CBA should be no different.

3) No measures are being taken for rehabilitation? Just wash your hands of the player? No EAP program? And they wonder why they get sued by alum...

4) Josh Gordon is a certified idiot. He put himself around the people that put him in this position. That's also being nice. He probably just smoked to celebrate taking his last test... Not smart and I truthfully don't think he gives a shit. We'll see how that goes when he isn't paid for a year. Everything I just said in this point doesn't take away from the fact that the NFL's policy is in bad faith and is beyond stupid.

 

[Kbiz]

Well, we were 2-0 with Hoyer as the starter.

Yes Hoyer played while we won those games but he only played well against Cincy. It's easy to look good against Minny, who had one of the worst defenses in the entire league last year.

My point is that regardless, with or without Gordon, we are going to be BAD offensively.

Defense is a whole different story. They will keep us in many games. My worry is that our offense will lose us those games in crunch-time. I have not seen one single thing from Hoyer this preseason that screams success to me.