10:31pm: Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk disputes that Gordon has ruled out legal action against the NFL, citing a league source who says that Gordon “has not abandoned plans to sue.” Rather, Gordon will wait for the ongoing drug policy battle between the league and the union to play out in the hopes that a deal reducing or vacating his suspension will be struck.
6:46pm: While it seems unlikely, reports this week have suggested that there’s a chance a new agreement on drug testing between the NFL and NFLPA could overturn some suspensions currently being served by players who wouldn’t have been disciplined under the new policy. We’ll have to wait to see how that story develops, but in the meantime, we know one thing: Josh Gordon has no plans to sue the NFL after his one-year suspension was upheld, writes Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN.com.
“The whole being in limbo thing, I’m over it,” Gordon said. “I’m not waiting on the edge of my seat anymore.”
Gordon also tells Merrill that he checked himself into a rehab clinic in Malibu back in July, despite the fact that he doesn’t consider himself an addict. He had to cut the program short to report to training camp and prepare for his appeal, but he spent two weeks at the facility, writes Merrill. The Browns wideout also said he doesn’t think he has smoked marijuana since before he entered the NFL, suggesting that his failed test was a result of second-hand smoke.
So why did Gordon check himself into rehab if he doesn’t believe he’s an addict and claims not to have smoked marijuana anytime recently? “Just to see,” he said. “To seek out some help on decision making. Not drug use or drug abuse, but decision making. Life skills. How to be your own person and stuff like that.”
Having accepted his fate for the coming season, Gordon has found non-NFL employment in the interim. As we heard yesterday, 2013’s leading receiver has accepted a position with the Sarchione Auto Group in Northeast Ohio, where he’ll act as both an on-floor salesman and as head of the group’s local outreach projects.
“I plan to spend it staying busy, that’s for sure,” Gordon said. “Staying positive and surrounding myself with positive, good people who are only here to support me. Nothing to tear me down negatively. Just carry on about life. There’s definitely life outside of football.”