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Brady HendersonESPN
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Josh Gordon has been conditionally reinstated for the final two weeks of the 2020 season, the NFL announced.
Gordon will be allowed to begin COVID-19 testing on Friday and might join the Seahawks on Wednesday, Dec. 9, if he tests negative for the virus.
He will be permitted to take part in meetings, individual workouts and strength and conditioning, but he will not be permitted to practice, travel with the team or attend games until Monday, Dec. 21, after Seattle’s Week 15 game.
The NFL announced Gordon’s indefinite suspension the day after the Seahawks’ Week 15 game last season, so he will have effectively served a one-year ban. It was a mystery to both the Seahawks and to Gordon as to why the league was taking so long to deliver a decision, according to sources. Gordon’s team applied for reinstatement in mid-June with the hope that he would be reinstated in time for training camp.
He re-signed with the Seahawks on a one-year deal in September. The deal with Seattle includes a $910,000 base salary, a $52,000 roster bonus due after his reinstatement and $80,000 in per-game roster bonuses, according to a source.
He was suspended indefinitely last December for violations of the league’s policies on performance-enhancing substances and substances of abuse. It was Gordon’s sixth suspension since the 2013 season and his fifth for some form of substance abuse, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Gordon’s attorney, Adam Kenner, confirmed to ESPN in June that Gordon’s latest suspension was the result of a setback he experienced after the death of his brother last fall. Gordon tweeted on Nov. 11 of last year about losing his older brother, the day he made his Seahawks debut.
Gordon, 29, adds to the firepower in Seattle’s wide receiver corps. DK Metcalf leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,039), while Tyler Lockett (771) is 16th. David Moore, rookie Freddie Swain and Penny Hart have been the team’s Nos. 3, 4 and 5 receivers, respectively. Free-agent addition Phillip Dorsett is on injured reserve recovering from foot surgery.
Gordon caught seven passes for 139 yards in five games last season with the Seahawks, who claimed the one-time Pro Bowler after he was released off injured reserve by the New England Patriots in November.
Gordon missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons as a member of the Cleveland Browns and was suspended in December 2018 for violating terms of his reinstatement, which led to his missing the final three games of the season with the Patriots.
He was suspended for the first two games of the 2013 season but still caught 87 passes for nine touchdowns and a league-leading 1,646 yards and was named to the All-Pro team.
Gordon has played just 63 games since he was chosen by the Browns in the 2012 supplemental draft. Overall, he has caught 247 passes for 4,252 yards — an average of 17.2 yards per catch — and 20 touchdowns.
