Josh Gordon has reportedly filed for NFL reinstatement

According to league sources cited in multiple reports, suspended Patriots receiver Josh Gordon has formally filed for NFL reinstatement.

Through the first 15 weeks of the 2018 regular season, Josh Gordon was the New England Patriots‘ leading receiver on the team. Not Julian Edelman – he missed the first four games while serving a PED suspension. Not Rob Gronkowski – who up until the postseason had battled long spells of injury-riddled ineffectiveness.

No, it was Josh Gordon who led Brady’s bunch in receiving yards, opening things up for Edelman, Gronk, and James White underneath by providing a much-needed vertical, field-stretching threat on the perimeter of the Patriots’ offense.

Then, shortly after New England’s surprising road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, news broke that Gordon was stepping away from football to focus on his mental health. That same day, word came down from on high that the league was suspending Gordon indefinitely for “multiple” violations of its substance-abuse policy.

From that point forward, Gordon’s road to recovery has been somewhat shrouded in mystery. The mercurial receiver reportedly checked himself in to a rehabilitation center to get right, but when a story broke that the Patriots were paying a part of the health bills at the center, Gordon himself intervened via his social media account to shoot down that rumor and dispute its veracity.

League commissioner Roger Goodell and New England head coach Bill Belichick have both repeatedly skirted questions on Gordon’s potential reinstatement, with Belichick deferring to Goodell and the NFL, and Goodell himself evading the topic by steering the focus back to Gordon and the receiver’s own timeline for getting the treatment he needs.

It’s been an interesting process for Patriots fans, to say the least.

On the one hand, it’s crucial to keep Gordon’s mental and physical health at the forefront of attention where they both should be – after all, his well-being takes massive precedent over his ability to play a game, no matter how important that game is to Gordon, his teammates and coaches, and to all of us as the game’s passionate fans.

On the other hand, any self-respecting Pats fan must also acknowledge that it’s a titillating, glorious idea to imagine Gordon making a triumphant return to Gillette Stadium, taking the field in his No. 10 uniform, and catching a deep touchdown throw from a 42-year-old Tom Brady this September or October.

It’s that second part of the equation that relates the most to the latest news coming out around Gordon. According to Bleacher Report’s Joseph Zucker, Gordon has reportedly filed his official paperwork with the NFL office to be reinstated.

While the nature of an “indefinite” suspension means, by definition, there is no clear-cut timeline for when the punishment ends and the suspension is lifted, it has been suggested by NFL insiders and reporters that Gordon could theoretically return to game action before the regular season starts.

It goes without saying that should he return, Gordon would immediately upgrade a New England receiving corps that lacks the same potency on paper as it had this time last year. Gronkowski is retired, fellow tight end Dwayne Allen is in Miami, Cordarrelle Patterson is in Chicago, and Chris Hogan is in Carolina. Edelman is still healing a broken finger, Demaryius Thomas will likely begin the year on the PUP list (as will newly-signed receiver Cameron Meredith), and first-round draft pick N’Keal Harry is still a rookie receiver.

Add it all up, and the Patriots’ pass-catchers are as unproven, unknown, and unpolished a bunch as they’ve ever been in New England. Gordon’s return would have monstrous positive ramifications on the position, and would elevate the team’s likely starting rotation into one of the more explosive, dangerous groups in the NFL.

The only remaining question now, assuming Gordon really is recovering from his addiction issues and in the right place to resume his place on a football field, is what the NFL will rule regarding his reinstatement – and when it will go into effect, if at all.

Stay tuned.