Suspended Browns WR Josh Gordon Applying For Reinstatement To NFL

Adam Schefter of ESPN is reporting that suspended Browns WR Josh Gordon is applying for reinstatement to the NFL on Wednesday.

“Josh is living with me and is in the best place mentally that he has been in dating back years before entering the NFL,” Gordon’s business manager Michael Johnson said. “He has taken the proper steps to treat his issues and has followed a very strict protocol that the league and our team here has laid out for him. He’s also in the best shape of his life and feels even better than he did when he had his breakout year in 2013. This will be a special year for Josh and we are all very proud of the way he has taken the necessary steps to turn his life around.”

Gordon made the decision to enter rehab back in October after what was described to him as a “slip-up” or a potential violation of drug and alcohol policy. Mary Kay Cabot later reported that Gordon checked into rehab because of an alcohol problem.

Gordon announced earlier in the week that he was stepping away from football to get his life in order and enter rehab.

Gordon, 25, is a former second-round supplemental pick of the Browns back in 2012. He’s in line to be a restricted free agent in 2017, given that he was limited to appearing in just five games during the 2014 season, due to a 10-game suspension coupled and a one-game suspension imposed by the Browns.

Normally, he would be in a position to test the open market as an unrestricted free agent, but Gordon has just three accrued NFL seasons.

In 2014, Gordon appeared in five games and caught 24 passes for 303 yards receiving, but didn’t score a touchdown.