New England Patriots: What really happened with Josh Gordon?

The New England Patriots placed Josh Gordon on IR and reportedly intend to release him soon. Why would a team that needs receivers so badly do any of this?

Despite the 7-0 start to the season for the New England Patriots, this team has been struggling all season long to get consistent production from their offense. Mostly through bad luck and injuries, the offense is lacking effective weaponry, and it can’t really afford any more setbacks.

Speaking of setbacks, Josh Gordon was recently put on injured reserve, and may even be released by the Patriots in the coming weeks ahead. The team is in need of wide receivers, so for them to put Gordon on IR came as a surprise to most. The way this happened was very odd, and needs some further clarity if possible.

The Patriots first announced they were releasing tight end Eric Tomlinson on Wednesday, who wasn’t spotted at practice that morning. Josh Gordon was seen at practice looking rather well during warmups. Then it was later announced the Patriots were in fact not releasing Tomlinson, and adding a rather healthy-looking Josh Gordon to IR instead.

We know that Gordon injured his left knee during the Giants game, when he tried to make a tackle on a fumble recovery by New York. He was taken out of the game and did not return. Gordon also did not play against the Jets on Monday Night Football last week.

Per Josina Anderson of ESPN, it’s been reported that Gordon will be ready to return in one to two weeks. The Patriots will then have to release Gordon, which will give teams the option of picking up the wide receiver through waiver claims.

It is noted that Josh Gordon has been suspended from the NFL four times for violating the substance abuse policy. He was suspended indefinitely for the 2015 and 2016 seasons for those types of violations as well. Gordon also took some time off from football last season (his choice) to focus on his mental health, although he was in fact later suspended indefinitely by the commissioner’s office in December.

Unfortunately for Gordon, his track record will always suggest that there is a possibility that he may violate the substance abuse policies again… and teams know that. I’m not insinuating by any means that Gordon has violated the substance abuse policy this time around, as it seems like since he came back to the Patriots this season that he’s been a perfect soldier on and off the field.

Regardless of what happened for the team to decide to pull the plug on Gordon, I really hope he can stay on the right path that being on the Patriots led him to.

New England completed a trade with the Atlanta Falcons for Mohamed Sanu on Thursday morning. If everything goes as planned, Sanu will be suiting up for his first game as a Patriot this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. Hopefully, the addition of Sanu plus the potential impending return of rookie first-round draft pick N’Keal Harry can help offset the loss of Gordon for the Patriots.