NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to ensure suspended Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon realizes he must change his behavior to have a legitimate shot at a comeback.
Goodell confirmed Friday during a news conference the NFL has received Gordon’s application for reinstatement into the league.
It’s unclear when the league received the application, but news of Gordon filing it broke Jan. 20. Goodell is supposed to render a decision within 60 days of receiving it.
The NFL banished Gordon for the entire 2015 season because of recurring violations of its substance-abuse policy. He has been suspended by the league three times.
“We did get the letter from Josh,” Goodell said during Super Bowl festivities in San Francisco. “The process is that we’ll go back and we’ll look at how he’s conducted himself over the last several months, what he’s done to make sure it’s consistent with the terms of his suspension. And at some stage, we’ll have a report on that, and I will engage with our people to understand where he is, where he’s been, but most importantly, it’s where he’s going.
“When these things happen, it’s about trying to avoid them in the future. Our No. 1 issue here is to prevent these things from happening. I’m hopeful that Josh understands that he’s going to have to conduct himself differently going forward to be a member of the NFL and to be representing the Cleveland Browns, or any team in the NFL. So our job is to try to get people to understand that, try to make sure that they live by the policies that we have and ensure that this is what all of us in the league want, but also I think our fans want. Our fans want players playing by the same rules.”
To be reinstated, Gordon must convince the league he remained abstinent from substances of abuse throughout the entire banishment.
Last month at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards, owner Jimmy Haslam said the Browns don’t know whether Gordon will be reinstated.
Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said last month the team has heard through Gordon’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, “that he’s doing well.”
Would the Browns welcome Gordon, 24, back if he were reinstated?
“[We’d] sit down with Josh and see where he is and what his plans are,” Brown replied. “But without having seeing him for a year, it would be hard for us to say. Could Josh come back to this roster? Yes. Is that necessarily going to happen? Obviously, he’s got to clear the hurdles with the NFL to see if he can get to that point.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.