Roger Goodell says Josh Gordon must convince him he won't slip up again if reinstated
SAN FRANCISCO -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear that Browns receiver Josh Gordon must convince him he won't slip up again if he's to reinstate him from his indefinite drug ban.
"We did get the letter from Josh,'' Goodell confirmed in his Super Bowl press conference Friday. "The process is that we'll go back and we'll look at how he's conducted himself over the last several months, what he's done to make sure it's consistent with the terms of his suspension.
"And at some stage we'll have a report on that and I will engage with our people to understand where he is, where he's been, but most importantly it's where he's going. When these things happen, it's about trying to avoid them in the future.
"Our No. 1 issue here is to prevent these things from happening. I'm hopeful that Josh understands that he's going to have to conduct himself differently going forward to be a member of the NFL and to be representing the Cleveland Browns, or any team in the NFL.
"So our job is to try to get people to understand that, try to make sure that they live by the policies that we have and ensure that this is what all of us in the league want, but also I think our fans want. our fans want players playing by the same rules.''
Gordon, who's been suspended in each of his first three seasons in the league for violating the substance abuse policy, was banned indefinitely on Feb. 3 for violating terms of his Stage 3 program.
He was suspended for two games in 2013 for what he said was codeine in his cough syrup, 10 games in 2014 for marijuana, and all of 2015 for what he said was two drinks on a plane, which violated his no-alcohol mandate.
A source told cleveland.com that Gordon is doing well and is confident he'll be re-instated.
Goodell has 60 days from the date of the application to rule, but he did not indicate when a decision could come. He also did not specify if he'll meet with Gordon.
If Gordon violates the terms of his program again, he'll again be suspended -- with a much tougher chance of getting back into the league.
Browns coach Hue Jackson has said he'll treat Gordon like any other player.
"What I'm anxious to do is evaluate him just like we're going to evaluate every player on our roster and see if they are the right fit for the Cleveland Browns,'' he said at his introductory press conference. "That's what we have to do with every player, whether that's Josh Gordon to whoever the last guy is on the roster.''
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2016/02/roger_goodell_needs_josh_gordo.htmlgood luck with that pot head.
