Josh Gordon‘s Titans visit will move him out of free agency. The veteran wide receiver will land on Tennessee’s practice squad, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
This will be Gordon’s fifth team. After being with the Chiefs last season and throughout this offseason, Gordon did not make Kansas City’s 53-man roster Tuesday. Despite being well off the pace he set early in his Browns days, the 31-year-old wideout did not fade from the NFL radar.
The Titans have more questions at wide receiver this year compared to during A.J. Brown‘s tenure, having made a post-ACL tear Robert Woods and raw first-rounder Treylon Burks their top pieces at the position this year. The team has a few lesser-known options ready to contribute, and Gordon will attempt to join that group at some point.
Tennessee will be Gordon’s fifth NFL employer. He has moved from the Browns to the Patriots to the Seahawks to his Chiefs deal over the past four years, with an early-season trade out of Cleveland beginning this journey.
Gordon’s historic stretch of suspensions sidetracked a promising career, with the Browns finally ending their lengthy partnership with the mercurial talent in September 2018. But Gordon could not finish seasons with the Patriots or Seahawks in 2018 or ’19, seeing off-field issues intervening. No such trouble followed him to Kansas City, but his production with the Chiefs left much to be desired. He caught five passes for the Chiefs in 2021 and did not suit up for any of K.C.’s playoff games.
Best known for the brigade of bans that came his way for substance-abuse issues, Gordon has shown elite talent at points during his career. The most notable instance came in 2013, when the supplemental draftee — despite a Cleveland QB situation that had Brandon Weeden starting many games that season — earned first-team All-Pro acclaim for a 1,646-yard performance. Gordon began that season on a two-game suspension, limiting him to 14 contests. His 117.6 receiving yards per game from that year remain the third-best mark in a season over the past 60 years — behind only Wes Chandler‘s 1982 strike-season mark (129.0, in nine games) and Calvin Johnson‘s record-setting 2012 slate (122.8).
Gordon, however, was suspended 10 games in 2014, effectively killing that momentum. By the time he resurfaced late in the 2017 season, that form was gone. Gordon did, however, contribute to the 2018 Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning team (40 catches, 720 yards, three TDs). Though, he was not with the Pats as they finished that season, with more off-field issues intervening. Gordon showed flashes as a Seahawk in 2019 but did not play in 2020, with yet another suspension keeping him away. The version the Chiefs received last year could not carve out a role. The veteran pass catcher will try and bounce back in Nashville.
Do they DT practice squad players?
Doesn’t matter, players can’t get suspended for drug use anymore
Jesus, talk about trying to catch lightning in a bottle…Gordon hasn’t been any good since 2018, and that is even debatable since Brady was force feeding him the ball over and over again..
They might just feel desperate for an outside weapon. Woods might not be at 100% yet, Burks doesn’t look ready to be a major contributor right away, and that leaves the slot-only Phillips and Westbrook-Ikhine. The receiving corps could look a lot better by the end of the year, but it might be a real problem, at least in the early going, and it’s not like they have a go-to tight end either.
Not that I think the 2022 vintage of Josh Gordon is the answer either.
MJ is still not legal in Tennessee