Browns WR Josh Gordon Will Be Exclusive Rights Free Agent, Despite Report

Update:

Pro Football Talk got clarification from the NFLPA that Josh Gordon is, in fact, an exclusive rights free agent.

NFLPA clarifies: Josh Gordon will be an Exclusive Rights Free Agent. He did not get an accrued year for 2017.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 21, 2018

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According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Browns WR Josh Gordon will be a restricted free agent this offseason and not an exclusive rights free agent as a number of outlets had said. Florio says he confirmed this with the NFL Players Association.

Had Gordon been an exclusive rights free agent, the Browns simply give him an exclusive rights tender and bring him back for the 2018 season at a low-money deal. However, this means that the Browns will now have to decide whether to place a restricted tender on Gordon in the coming weeks or he would be an unrestricted free agent.

Here are the RFA projections, according to OverTheCap.com:

Type	Amount
First Round	$4,152,000
Second Round	$2,916,000
Original Round	$1,908,000

The Browns have plenty of cap space to work with so they could afford to use a first-round tender on him if they feel that’s a worthy investment. Although, a second-round tender could be enough to dissuade other teams from trying to sign him away from the Browns, considering his off-the-field concerns.

Gordon, 26, is a former second-round supplemental pick of the Browns back in 2012. Suspensions forced Gordon to sit out the 2015 and 2016 seasons but he was reinstated in November of last year and finished out the seasons with the Browns.

In 2017, Gordon appeared in five games for the Browns and caught 18 passes for 335 yards receiving and one touchdown.

We’ll have more regarding Gordon as the news is available.