Seahawks have no word--and can’t talk--on when or if NFL will reinstate Josh Gordon
The chances are dimming that Josh Gordon plays in the Seahawks’ opener Sunday at Atlanta.
The Seahawks signed back the former All-Pro wide receiver on Thursday. It was a move they wouldn’t have done without them having the belief the NFL is going to reinstate him from his seventh league suspension for drugs.
But he wasn’t on the field Monday for the first practice of the regular season. Officially, Gordon remains suspended by commissioner Roger Goodell. That reserve status leaves him unable to practice or be with the team that just re-signed him now that the regular season has begun.
Thursday, Carroll said: “We don’t know exactly how this is going to roll out. But we thought that this was the best time to (sign him). We’ll see what happens. We are all kind of keeping our finger crossed that he gets the chance to play here soon. ... We have no word from the league yet.”
That same day, an NFL spokesman was asked by The News Tribune if the commissioner had decided on whether to grant the reinstatement for which Gordon applied in June.
“We are going to decline comment,” the league spokesman told the TNT last week.
Had the Seahawks gotten any further word or signal from the league since Thursday?
“We really can’t even talk about that right now, sorry,” Carroll said. “We can’t comment on that.”
Sounds like the league got to the Seahawks and told them to remain hushed, for now.
So Russell Wilson will have Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Phillip Dorsett, David Moore, John Ursua and rookie sixth-round draft choice Freddie Swain as their options this week for the Falcons game.
Dorsett missed multiple practices at the end of August with what Carroll says is a sore foot the former New England Patriot has had for a long time. But Carroll said Monday Dorsett is full go and on track to play at Atlanta.
When his foot wasn’t bothering him, Dorsett showed a new, deep-speed dimension in training camp Seattle’s offense has lacked in recent seasons. Lockett and Metcalf are fast, but the Seahawks haven’t often sent them straight at secondaries with the sole purpose to stretch them deep to open up shorter routes for others underneath. They will with Dorsett.
“He’s the fastest guy we’ve ever had here,” Carroll said last month. “He runs in the time realms we don’t even think really exist.
“You know, 4.2s and stuff.”
