Carroll: Seahawks ‘very open’ to bringing back Josh Gordon, and maybe Antonio Brown later
The Seahawks “are very open” to adding Josh Gordon back onto their team.
They are open to signing Antonio Brown, too — but are in wait-and-see mode with Russell Wilson’s private workout partner from last month.
Coach Pete Carroll on Monday directly answered questions about Seattle’s interest in each suspended, former All-Pro receiver for the 2020 season.
Asked on an online Zoom call following the Seahawks’ first conditioning workout of their unprecedented COVID-19 training camp about whether Seattle wants Gordon back in 2020 if the NFL reinstates him from his latest drug suspension, Carroll said: “We are very open to that thought.
“Really, it’s not in our hands,” Carroll said of the league’s decision on Gordon’s request for reinstatement. “Josh did a really good job with us last year. He fit in really well. He was a part of this team, by the way we openly embraced him and he’s come through us — but also by the way he attacked it.
“So we are very open to that thought. We’ll see what happens. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen on that.”
The NFL suspended Gordon, 29, for the seventh time in December, one day after he had a brilliant, diving catch to help the Seahawks win at Carolina. He has been suspended eight times in all in his eight-year career, including once by the Cleveland Browns for whom he was an All-Pro in 2013.
In June he applied to the league for reinstatement from his latest indefinite suspension for recreational and performance-enhancing drugs. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has yet to rule on Gordon’s request.
Gordon has been working out this spring into summer in the Seattle area he feels became his new home last season while playing for the Seahawks. He said in December, just before his suspension, he’d love to continue playing for the team.
Brown’s situation
The NFL announced last week Brown will suspended for the first eight games of this season. That is, if a team signs the seven-time Pro Bowl receiver. He remains an unsigned free agent after the Raiders and Patriots released him in September.
The Seahawks inquired about Brown in September the same day the Raiders released him after his numerous run-ins with his new team last summer. But before Carroll and general manager John Schneider could even get to Brown he had signed with New England.
Eleven days and one game after Brown signed with New England, the Patriots cut him — as the NFL was investigating Brown for multiple accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior, including rape.
He hasn’t played since.
“What I would say to you is what we always say, because it’s what we always do and is who we are: John is competing at every turn,” Carroll said. “There has never been a process that we’ve missed, that we weren’t involved with, to understand what the chances are to help our club. And he’s all over it. He knows what’s going on right now, as much as you can.
“It remains a … it’s a very complex situation. And we just need to see where it fits somewhere down the road.
“That’s not … that’s all I’ve got for you.”
Last month Brown posted a video online of him running routes and catching passes from Wilson at what appeared to be the Seahawks’ offseason training field in California.
He was wearing a helmet from his former Oakland Raiders, with whom he signed last year but never played in a game.
In late December he had a tryout with the New Orleans Saints that did not amount to anything.
In January, Brown was arrested and charged with assaulting a delivery driver outside his home in Florida. He was briefly under house arrest. According to Broward County court records in Florida, the case ended with him getting two years probation until June 12, 2022. He was sentenced to a 13-week anger-management program, among other conditions.
The NFL then investigated Brown for alleged sexual misconduct against two women. The league’s investigation found Brown sent threatening, aggressive text messages to one of the women.
On Friday, the league released this statement: “Antonio Brown was notified today by NFL Special Counsel for Conduct Todd Jones that he has been suspended without pay for the first eight regular-season games of the 2020 season for multiple violations of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
“Brown, who played one game in the 2019 season for the New England Patriots before being released, is an unrestricted free agent and may sign with any team. If he is signed before the start of the 2020 season, Brown would be eligible to participate in all of his club’s preseason activities. Brown’s suspension would take effect as of the final roster reduction on September 5. He would be eligible to return after the team’s eighth game.
“As part of the discipline, Brown was directed to continue his program of counseling and treatment, and that he is expected fully to cooperate with his clinicians.
“Brown was advised that any future violation of the Personal Conduct Policy will likely result in more significant discipline.”
Carroll’s belief
Carroll embraces second chances and reclamation projects. He loves to help 20-something men turn their lives around. Seattle’s 68-year-old coach has supreme confidence in his players-first, intensely personal principles of dealing with players. He believes his Seahawks team environment can rehabilitate almost anyone into achieving their maximum potential.
Speculation about Gordon’s chances of reinstatement by the league increased in May when the league conditionally reinstated defensive end Aldon Smith from an indefinite suspension. Smith has had repeated violations of the NFL’s policies on substance abuse and personal conduct. The seventh pick in the 2011 NFL draft has been out of the league since 2015. He has signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys.
Many believe Gordon should be reinstated because of the fact that entering 2020, 11 states including Washington had legalized marijuana for use by adults. Cannabis was legal for medical purposes in 33 states at the beginning of this year. Plus, the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement players approved by vote in March includes deemphasizing testing and penalties for marijuana use.
The NFL has eliminated any game suspensions strictly for positive tests of marijuana. The league has reduced its window of test for THC from four months to two weeks at the start of training camp. It also has reduced the number of players it tests for THC and increased the threshold of allowable THC in a player’s tested urine from 35 nanograms to 150.
But the NFL suspended Gordon indefinitely again for violating its policies on both performance-enhancing substances and substance abuse. His troubles in the NFL and in life have gone beyond marijuana.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported last month Gordon had a relapse of drug use after his brother died in November.
“Josh had a relapse because of his brother’s death. That set him back,” Gordon’s lawyer, Adam Kenner, told Pelissero. “But since that time he has realized how important it is to him to take the right steps, do what’s proper, and understand how to manage these issues. He’s installed the right team around him to make sure he is on the right path. He understands he’s been given every chance. He looks forward to making the most of this.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 2:46 PM.
