Why the Seahawks would have ‘zero hesitation’ in bringing back wide receiver Josh Gordon

Mar 23, 2020, 2:38 PM

Josh Gordon played five games for the Seahawks before his suspension. (Getty)

(Getty)

Editor, Seattle Sports

It may feel like a distant memory now, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the Seahawks acquired former All-Pro wide receiver Josh Gordon and implemented him into their offense.

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Gordon, 28, played five games for Seattle during the 2019 season after being picked up on a waiver claim. And while New England made him available on waivers, it wasn’t necessarily because the Patriots deemed him expendable, but rather a formality due to him having been placed on injured reserve with a minor designation and eventually being cleared to play.

As has been the case many times throughout an up-and-down career for Gordon, however, his season was ended in December due to an indefinite suspension for violating NFL policies on performance enhancers and substances of abuse. It marked the eighth time since Gordon was drafted in 2012 that he had been suspended by the league.

There’s always the chance Gordon could be reinstated, however, and the Seahawks would get first rights to decide if they want to bring him back on the team. On Monday, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Tom, Jake and Stacy revisited the possibility of Gordon returning to Seattle.

“How much interest do you have in Josh Gordon?” Tom Wassell asked. “I’ve seen him say a couple of times on social media that he definitely wants to play next year. (And in) the short amount of time that he was here, he didn’t catch that many balls but the ones that he did catch were definitely at key times in a game.”

That’s certainly true. He had just seven receptions in his five games for Seattle, but they totaled 139 yards, and he had not one but two catches to convert on third down late in the Seahawks’ 27-24 overtime win on the road against San Francisco on Nov. 11, which was his team debut.

Jake Heaps, a former Seahawks quarterback, said that he is all for Seattle bringing Gordon back into the fold.

“For me I look at it… if he is coming in as your fourth or fifth receiver potentially, I think it’s just more weapons that you can add,” Heaps said. “Like the approach that they had last year, Josh Gordon wasn’t gonna be a guy that you change your offense for. … Maybe you implement one or two plays (with Gordon) in mind that he’s gonna run or you can take advantage of with him. They’re not gonna really isolate him to be one of your top receivers.

“A guy with that kind of talent and with that little of responsibility, I’m perfectly OK with that situation because you’ve got Tyler Lockett, you’ve got DK Metcalf that have stepped up, and then you have potentially David Moore and someone else that you draft in the first three rounds at that receiver position.”

Heaps added that he gets the impression that the Seahawks would jump at the opportunity to add Gordon back to their roster.

“I think that they’re in a really great spot to take a chance on Josh Gordon like that,” he said. “And even before all the action that happened in terms of signing Greg Olsen and all that, all the conversation within that organization was that they really enjoyed their time with Josh Gordon in the sense of who he was every single day, the talent that he was. From my understanding, they’re going to have zero hesitation bringing him back if he’s available.”

Based on Gordon’s Twitter account, he wouldn’t hesitate about coming back to the Seahawks, either. He has tweeted multiple times this offseason about enjoying spending time in the Pacific Northwest, including as recently as March 17.