Seahawks’ Josh Gordon ‘very frustrated’ by NFL making him ineligible and in limbo again
Josh Gordon is “very frustrated.”
But his coach says the former All-Pro wide receiver is staying with the Seahawks.
“We’re not able to comment about any of really other than to say that he’s still in the (team training) room and working out with our trainers in getting his work done, conditioning-wise,” Pete Carroll said Wednesday.
It was one day after the league put Gordon back on the commissioner’s exempt list, ineligible to practice and play for Seattle again. It was a complete about-face from Monday, when he’d become eligible to play, with league approval, for first time in 12 months, since his seventh NFL suspension for drugs.
“We’ll revisit again next week,” Carroll said.
That indicates this is an ongoing, and not final, decision and matter.
“I’m certainly disappointed not to have him, for his sake, and for a lot of things,” Carroll said. “But we’ll stay with it and we’ll see what happens next week.”
Carroll had been expecting Gordon to play and contribute, particularly on third downs, in the Seahawks’ game Sunday at home against their rival Los Angeles Rams. A Seattle win clinches the NFC West title.
Now, Gordon is where he’s been for the last 12 months, and much of the last half-dozen years of suspensions: in limbo.
“(He’s) very frustrated that he’s not out here,” Carroll said. “Yeah, frustrated by it.”
A league spokesman told The News Tribune Gordon “did not satisfy all requirements of the conditional reinstatement,” and that is why the NFL put him back on the exempt list Tuesday.
He is allowed to attend team meetings and continue conditioning drills at Seahawks headquarters in Renton. That’s the same status he had from Dec. 9 until he was added to the roster, briefly, on Monday. Those were the terms of commissioner Roger Goodell reinstating him from his seventh league suspension on Dec. 5.
“We are planning the week like he has a chance to contribute,” Carroll said Monday. “We’ll hold out good hope and thought, and see where he fits.”
The News Tribune could not confirm Tuesday night and Wednesday a report Tom Pelissero of NFL Network posted on Twitter hours earlier Tuesday, that Gordon “had a setback in his battle with substance abuse and now won’t be allowed to practice or play indefinitely, per sources.”
Asked if Wednesday Gordon’s situation is an administrative issue or something more, Carroll threw up his hands. The coach said, again, he can’t talk about the details of the matter.
It’s unclear why the league would only put Gordon back on exempt status and not suspend him again if he indeed “had a setback in his battle with substance abuse” that was a relapse. One possibility would be if Gordon is appealing a latest positive drug test, but that is speculation.
Conditions of his reinstatement remain confidential to the team, as are details of the league’s confidential drug-treatment program for every suspended player for reasons of patient privacy. Those conditions could include continued, required testing x number of times per week or month, reporting to assigned counseling and outreach sessions or any other term, administrative and otherwise, agreed to between Gordon and the league as part of his reinstatement process.
One can only hope this is a relatively administrative issue, for the sake of the 29-year-old father of two kindergarten-aged children. Gordon is an ultra-talented player who’s said he began abusing substances when he was in middle school.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 2:10 PM.
