NFL Notes: Josh Gordon, Patriots, Raiders, Vikings

Josh Gordon

Suspended Browns WR Josh Gordon opened up about his history of drug use and his other struggles.

“I’ve used alcohol on many, many occasions, Xanax on many occasions, cocaine several occasions, marijuana most of my life, codeine, cough syrup, methazine — very prevalent where I’m from. It’s what I grew up using,” Gordon said, via the Uninterrupted.

Gordon explained that he’s been enabled by others for most of his life, and mentioned that a Baylor coach actually gave him a substance he could drink before taking drug tests to prevent him from failing.

“I’ve been enabled most of my life,” Gordon said. “I’ve been enabled by coaches, teachers, professors, everybody, pretty much, gave me a second chance because of my ability. Not too long after I got arrested for possession of marijuana at Baylor, one of my coaches came by saying, ‘You are going to get drug tested by the compliance office. This is how it’s going to work, this is what they are going to do. If they do call you in, here goes these bottles of detox.’ He showed me how to drink them, showed me how to take them. That was my first experience with getting over on the system and the authority not really being serious because it was being guided by someone who was employed by the university.”

Patriots

• Mike Reiss of ESPN writes that the Patriots could consider releasing veteran LB David Harris if Shea McClellin is medically cleared and returns from injured reserve later on in the season.

Raiders

• Raiders HC Jack Del Rio reaffirmed Monday that he anticipates QB Derek Carr (back) will play in Week 6’s game against the Chargers. (Michael Gehlken)

Vikings

Vikings HC Mike Zimmer told reporters after Monday’s win over the Bears that QB Sam Bradford aggravated his knee injury, which led to him being benched in favor of Case Keenum.

“He aggravated his injury when got tackled on one of the plays,” Zimmer said, via the Pioneer Press. “And so I just thought it was best for him and when we got him out of there, he didn’t want to come out, he wanted to stay in there and fight. But I didn’t want to get him injured anymore.”

Zimmer added that he had no reservations about starting Bradford.

“We wouldn’t have put him on the field if he wasn’t healthy enough to play,” Zimmer said. “He was very confident about it, he felt good about it. The medical people felt good about it.”