Mid-week thoughts (Part 1)

Is Josh Gordon a ticking time bomb?

That’s a question that has to be seriously pondered in the wake of the troubled wide receiver’s frank admission in a magazine piece that he was either high or drunk in every professional football game he played.

And since the team for which he played resides on the north shore of Lake Erie, that presents a major problem now that Gordon has returned after an enforced long-term suspension by the National Football League for substance abuse.

Should the Browns take him back since he is technically still under contract? It appears that’s what they are going to do since he reported to Berea Tuesday. Apparently there have been no thoughts of flat out releasing him.

The Browns plans to play Gordon in the final five games of the season in December after he gets into game shape. It will be the first time he has suited up f in almost three years. What football shape he is in after such a long layoff is the unknown.

The lifting of Gordon’s suspension by Commissioner Roger Goodell is conditional. He must stay substance free or else face what most likely will be a permanent lifetime ban.

The marvelously talented wide receiver, who revealed in the magazine piece he started drinking in seventh grade, must pass all drug tests after reporting in order to be eligible to play.

But if what he says is true about his wild relationship with drugs and alcohol while performing in an All-Pro manner for the Browns in 2013 when he startled the league with a spectacular 1.646-yard, 87-catch, nine-touchdown season in 14 games?

He was tested back then for possible substance abuse and apparently found clean. How did he do it? And if he could do it back then, what’s to say he can’t do it again this time around?

When he plays those last five games this season, how will we know he is clean? How will we know there is nothing in his system that will help him perform as he did several years ago?

Supposing he is clean for those five games, how will that affect his performance? Did the booze and marijuana merely enhance his natural talents back then or did they help him reach those heights?

And if he fails to live up to the expectations of the fans and coaches in those games, will he gamble and try again to beat the system in an effort to prolong his twice-interrupted career?

I don’t profess to be an expert on matters such as this. Far from it, in fact. But one has to wonder what makes this time different than any other in Gordon’s career?

He claims to have seen the light, realizing that if he screws up one more time, that’s it. He can kiss away any thoughts of making a comeback in a game for which he has superb talents.

The Browns, swimming aimlessly in a sea of ineptitude, are desperate enough to welcome back Gordon. He automatically becomes their best wide receiver. It is a win-win gamble they can’t lose

If this all works out and Gordon rediscovers what made him such a prized player in 2013 and stays clean, the Browns win. If he falls off the wagon again and becomes just another sad NFL story, well, the Browns have been there before.

It falls under the category of nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thursday: Mid-week thoughts Part 2, Sashi Brown