Carroll: Seahawks still don’t know, can’t talk about if Josh Gordon will be reinstated
Reinstated Aldon Smith will be playing for the Cowboys against the Seahawks.
At the same time Sunday, suspended Josh Gordon won’t be allowed inside CenturyLink Field. He won’t be permitted to even receive coaches’ films of the game from the team that re-signed him weeks ago.
It’s been almost a month since the Seahawks signed back the former All-Pro wide receiver. That was on the assumption NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was going to reinstate him from suspension.
Yet 22 days after he signed with Seattle, Gordon’s official league status is still “reserve/suspended by Commissioner.”
And the Seahawks still don’t know when he will play again.
Coach Pete Carroll said the same thing Friday that he said two weeks ago, and a week before that.
“I don’t know,” Carroll said, “because we can’t talk about it.”
The coach again said the right things (apparently per the NFL), but each time he’s been asked about Gordon this month he’s sounded increasingly frustrated over the stalled situation.
The issue became more pressing for the Seahawks this week when they put veteran wide receiver Phillip Dorsett on injured reserve. Dorsett has a foot injury that needs weeks of rest. The Seahawks believe shutting him down for at least three weeks, the new minimum stint for IR players in this COVID-19 NFL season, will allow him to return later this season.
There would be no apparent reason for the Seahawks and general manager John Schneider to sign Gordon when they did, on Sept. 3 a week before their opening game at Atlanta, without the belief Goodell was about to reinstate Gordon from his seventh league suspension for drugs. The day Seattle signed back the 29-year-old veteran they had for six weeks last season until he failed a drug test and got suspended in December, Carroll was a least somewhat more expansive talking about when Gordon would play.
One possibility is the Seahawks got wind of another team possibly signing Gordon three weeks ago, and that Seattle’s move was a preemptive strike to keep him for 2020. But it’s unusual for a bidding war to break out among multiple teams over a player still on suspension, especially an eighth one for drugs (including his former Cleveland Browns suspending him once).
“John was really orchestrating this, and we tried to do it as well as we could possibly do it. And the timing came down to this time frame, right here,” Carroll said Sept. 3. “And, again, we don’t know exactly how this is going to roll out. But we thought that this was the best time to do it.
“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.”
After Gordon’s agent revealed his client’s deal with the Seahawks three weeks ago, The News Tribune asked the NFL’s chief spokesman for Goodell if the commissioner had made a decision on Gordon’s reinstatement.
“We are going to decline comment,” NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy told the TNT.
The NFL reinstated Smith for this season after he hadn’t played since 2015 because of off-the-field issues, including an arrest for domestic violence and violating the NFL’s policy on substance abuse. The 31-year-old edge rusher has played 78% of Dallas’ defensive snaps through two games. He was in on 11 tackles with two hits on quarterback Jared Goff in Dallas’ opener, a loss at the Los Angeles Rams.
Smith returning after years in exile, plus the league this year lessening testing frequency and penalties for use of marijuana, one of the substances Gordon has reportedly tested positive for previously in the league’s confidential program, made conditions seemingly more favorable for Gordon to return, too.
Yet he continues to wait.
This is the eighth time Gordon’s been suspended in his career, which began with the Browns in 2012. This is his seventh suspension by the league, his second within in 12 months. The Browns suspended him once. That was a year after his breakout season with 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns receiving.
He hasn’t played a full season since. He has said he began abusing substances in grade school.
In June, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Gordon had a relapse of drug use in November after his brother died. That was soon after the Seahawks claimed Gordon off waivers from New England.
He has said he began abusing substances in grade school — Xanax, marijuana, codeine — at a time a kid should not even know what those substances are. He has said as a teen he smoked marijuana daily and drank vodka in a bottle of orange juice during school and in classes.
The terms of the otherwise confidential NFL drug-testing program include a suspended player having to comply with league-ordered counseling and support meetings. Carroll said in December the team learned Gordon also has his own, personal support group he’s depended upon to get reinstated by the league previously.
Carroll said Friday the team is not permitted per terms of Gordon’s suspension to send him game films or have any official contact with him.
“No,” Carroll said, “we’re not able to do that.”
Suspended players can be in the team facility and practice only in the offseason and preseason, not during the regular season or playoffs.
So David Moore will continue as the third wide receiver with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf for Russell Wilson to target on Sunday against the Cowboys.
And, again, indefinitely beyond that.
