Agent: Seahawks sign back Josh Gordon, amid signals NFL is reinstating him
Josh Gordon is back in his newfound NFL home.
The veteran wide receiver’s agent confirmed Thursday morning amid signs the league is about to reinstate Gordon from his seventh NFL suspension for drugs that the Seahawks have signed him to play for them again in 2020.
Agent David Canter announced on Twitter Seattle is signing Gordon.
Asked if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has in fact decided to reinstate Gordon, a league spokesman told The News Tribune Thursday morning: “We are going to decline comment.”
This spring Gordon had taken the next step to getting his career — and life — back on track after his latest suspension in December for substances of abuse and performance-enhancing drugs. He’d made it clear by expressing his love for the Seahawks in his short stint playing for them last season and then working out in the Seattle area all this past offseason that he felt he’d finally found a home in the Pacific Northwest.
The native Texan and former star for the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots had Seattle as his listed home on social media. His postings emphasized that he thinks he’s found a new home, with the city and with the Seahawks. They were his third team in the last three seasons in 2019.
Asked in December, days before the eighth suspension of his career, if he’d had any discussions with the Seahawks about being on their 2020 team, Gordon said: “That’s my hope.
“I think, optimistically, that’s anybody’s goal, any player’s goal, to try to find a place you can call home — in all aspects.
“The culture’s just different. I think it’s something that felt more like a fit, I guess, to me. It’s pretty natural. It’s pretty smooth.
“It’s just my pace, I guess.”
All offseason into training camp, coach Pete Carroll and the Seahawks remained open to Gordon coming back to the team.
“Josh did a really good job with us last year, he fit in really well,” Carroll said last month. “He was part of this team, by the way we opened and embraced his coming to us, but also by the way he attacked it.
“So we are very open to that thought and we’ll see what happens.”
They’ve been waiting on Goodell to rule on the 29-year-old former All-Pro’s reinstatement request.
Signs are that will become official soon. The Seahawks would not be re-signing a player they can’t play.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
