Why Pete Carroll believes his Seahawks culture is right for Josh Gordon
Pete Carroll says he’s not sure yet where Josh Gordon fits in with Russell Wilson and his currently flying Seahawks offense.
But Seattle’s paternal, 68-year-old coach believes Gordon fits his locker room.
Why does Carroll think his team culture will allow the 28-year-old former All-Pro wide receiver who has been suspended in and by the NFL five times to thrive in Seattle? It’s his third team in 13 1/2 months.
“It’s the sense that—I’ve said a long time ago to you guys—Dad always said, ‘Give a guy a second chance,’” Carroll said Monday. “Sometimes, when you do, remarkable things happen.
“In my way, I look at this as maybe a second opportunity for him. He’s probably had a couple already. We’re going to give him a shot to go and see what he can do.”
That shot begins this week.
Carroll said the Seahawks (7-2) had cleared Gordon medically to begin practicing Thursday. That’s when the team begins full preparations for Monday night’s NFC West showdown at rival San Francisco (8-0), the NFL’s last unbeaten team.
The Patriots activated Gordon off injured reserve Thursday, after a knee injury last month. New England waived him the same day. Reports out of the Boston area said Gordon was late recently for team meetings with the Patriots. Some saw his banged-up knee had caused him to be slower than he was last season, when he caught 40 passes for a striking average of 18 yards per reception in 11 games for New England.
That was before the league suspended him Dec. 20 for another violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy. Commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Gordon in August.
Seattle claimed Gordon off NFL waivers Friday. The team gave him a low-risk contract for the rest of this season.
Wilson is all for it. The quarterback, who says he has known Gordon “for years,” is believed to have pushed for adding him.
“Josh has been a tremendous receiver. I think it’s going to be just great having him into the group that we already have,” Wilson said.
“I think the thing about this culture that’s a fit for anyone, to be honest with you, is just that we’re all in it together. ...We really believe in each other. We really believe in supporting one another. Coach Carroll does a tremendous job just being consistent every day. ... The guys, just the locker room is so tight-knit and just everybody is so close together.
“So, I think that’s going to be a great asset for any player, to be honest with you.”
Adding Gordon is indeed a quintessential Carroll move.
It continues the coach’s tradition of Marshawn Lynch, Percy Harvin, Dion Jordan, Brandon Marshall, even LenDale White and others signing with Seattle since Carroll took over the team in 2010: Bring in a veteran who’s shown unique physical talent but has been derailed by off-the-field issues.
The veteran coach with chic, players-loving ways strongly believes he can coach and mentor any talent into his Seahawks culture.
It worked marvelously with Lynch. Buffalo gave up on him in the middle of the 2010 season and traded him to Carroll’s first Seahawks team. The pounding running back with his own, um, unique personality (“I’m just here so I won’t get fined”) became Carroll’s foundational and spiritual key to winning the Super Bowl in the 2013 season.
Carroll’s reclamation efforts in Seattle worked somewhat with Harvin and Jordan, but only briefly.
It didn’t work with Marshall last year, nor with White and others.
Gordon is Carroll’s latest reclamation attempt.
He has 20 touchdowns and an average of more than 17 yards per catch in his 58-game career. He had 87 catches for a league-leading 1,676 yards for the Cleveland Browns in 2013, his All-Pro and Pro Bowl season.
But entering the 2018 season, Gordon had missed 43 of Cleveland’s previous 48 games because of suspensions. He told GQ in 2017 his problems with substance abuse began when he was in seventh grade.
The NFL suspended him for the entire 2015 season for repeated violations of its drug policy. He applied for reinstatement in ‘16 but failed another drug test and the league denied his reinstatement. After two stays in rehabilitation and treatment facilities, Gordon eventually got reinstated by the NFL and played in five games for the Browns late in 2017.
The Browns reinstated him four times from suspensions from 2013-17. They gave him two contracts. Then they gave up on him. The Patriots endured a suspension from last December during a run to another Super Bowl title deep and into this preseason, then a knee injury. Once the Patriots traded with Atlanta for wide receiver Mohamed Sanu on Oct. 22, they gave up on Gordon, too.
Cleveland traded Gordon to New England in September 2018 for a fifth-round draft choice. This season, he was playing 54 percent of the Patriots’ offensive snaps with 20 catches at 14.4 yards per reception in six games. Then he went on IR last month.
Gordon did not play in the Seahawks’ overtime win at home Sunday against Tampa Bay. He was inside CenturyLink Field at the game, according to his social-media posts.
Carroll met with him Monday at team headquarters. Gordon has started learning the plays and coaching staff.
The Seahawks are learning how to work Gordon through his addiction management.
“Hopefully, we’re putting together a really good plan,” Carroll said. “He has a really clear process that supports him. We’re all aligning to make sure that continues and he feels very good about that.”
In talking to Gordon Monday, did Carroll think his latest salvage project senses this is his last NFL chance?
“I don’t know that. I don’t know that. We didn’t talk about that,” Carroll said.
“I didn’t say last chance. I said second chance.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2019 at 6:59 AM.
