The Seahawks made a surprising move Friday as they picked up wide receiver Josh Gordon. Boy, is there a lot to unpack in this.
The Seahawks sent a couple of signals when they picked up receiver Josh Gordon from the waiver wire today. First, they showed the league that they aren’t afraid to takes risks to get better. Gordon is a class-A risk, there’s no doubt about that. We’ll discuss that soon enough, along with exactly why the Hawks think he’s worth that risk.
Second, Seattle is sending a very clear message to its receiver room. There’s always room for improvement. I’m looking at players with catch rates under 60 percent. Or even under 50 percent. David Moore, you might want to work on that. In fact, of all the wide receivers with more than 10 catches, Tyler Lockett is the only one with a catch rate of over 60 percent. Get to work, gentlemen.
Gordon was released by the Patriots yesterday, which is why he hit the waiver wire. The funny thing is, I considered writing about how Gordon would impact the Hawks then. But as he was on waivers, the teams with the worst records in the league had the first shot. The 0-8 Bengals passed on him, the Dolphins are a trash fire, yet somehow no losing team could use him. In all, there were 27 teams ahead of Seattle in line for waiver pickups. So obviously, there was no way he’d ever fall to the Hawks.
Except he did. That is definitely cause for concern. 27 teams decided that despite his undeniable talent, Gordon wasn’t worth the potential headaches. I can tell you this much; he certainly boosted the sales of Tylenol during his tenures in Cleveland and Foxboro. Gordon is practically the NFL poster child for wasted talent.
Seahawks newest player has had his troubles, to be sure
Here’s a brief refresher for those less familiar with his circumstances. Gordon came into the league as one of the top-rated receivers in the 2012 draft. Cleveland took him in the supplemental draft, and he had an immediate impact on the Browns. He caught 50 passes for 805 yards and five scores.
He really blew up in 2013 with 87 catches for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns. He was a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro in just his second season. But his troubles had already surfaced. Gordon was suspended for the first two games of 2013 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Then it all began to really fall apart for Gordon. The NFL suspended him for all of 2014 for a failed drug test, for marijuana. The suspension was reduced to 10 games, and he played in just 5 games, catching 24 balls and failing to score even once.
If he thought 2014 was bad, Gordon had no idea of just how bad things could get. He was suspended by the league for the entire 2015 season for substance abuse again, this time related to alcohol. He applied for reinstatement in April of 2016 but failed another drug test.
Gordon was finally reinstated that summer, although he wasn’t eligible to play until week five. Instead, he checked into a rehab facility and missed all of 2016 as well. After applying for reinstatement yet again in 2017, the league cleared him to play in week 13. He finally made it back on the field, although only for five games. For a deeper look at the timeline, where it all started for Gordon, and some raw truths from the man himself, I highly recommend Nicole Yang’s article on boston.com.
Seahawks took a small risk for a big potential reward
Fast forward to 2018. Gordon played just one game for the Browns before they traded him to the Patriots. Teamed with an actual quarterback for once, he had his best season since his All-Pro campaign. He caught 40 passes for 720 yards and three touchdowns. Once again, the league suspended him for substance abuse, this time near the end of the season. Gordon missed the final two games of the year.
Despite this, New England brought him back this year. He played fairly well through the first six games of the year, with 20 catches for 287 yards and one touchdown. He’d battled knee and ankle injuries for some time, then left the Giants game after just 25 snaps. Gordon had averaged 69 snaps per game this year. The Patriots put him on injured reserve, and that was it.
Financially, the Seahawks aren’t taking much of a risk. According to spotrac.com, they’re on the hook for just a bit over $1 million this season, none of it guaranteed. I remind you, the cash outlay for Gary Jennings Jr. this year is $1.2 million. If Gordon gets into four games and plays as well as he has throughout his career, he’ll be an absolute steal.
Per 16 games, Gordon has averaged 66 catches for 1,135 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a 17.1 yard per catch average. For the past two years, he’s averaged 6.4 yards after the catch. Yes, the touchdowns are low, but his quarterbacks were Brandon Weeden, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, and DeShone Kizer for his first four seasons. It’s a miracle he ever scored if you ask me.
Gordon is still fighting his injuries, and I’m sure he’s still fighting his addictions as well. You don’t start abusing yourself in middle school and then magically beat your dependencies. When healthy, Gordon is one of the best receivers in the game. The Seahawks picked him up for pocket change. Giving Russell Wilson another great target, after the game he played Sunday, almost doesn’t seem fair. Somehow I doubt anyone in College Navy and Wolf Gray will complain.