How Josh Gordon would fit with the Patriots

A deal is done sending Josh Gordon to the Patriots. New England has juggled wide receivers all offseason, but he might offer a real solution.

Editor’s update: The deal is complete. The Patriots are sending a conditional 2019 fifth round pick to the Browns in exchange for Gordon. If Gordon is active for fewer than ten games, the Browns will send back 2019 seventh round pick, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Gordon suffered a hamstring last weekend that was expected to cost him the game before the Browns decided to part ways. Schefter is reporting Gordon is healthy enough to play this Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

The New England Patriots are not shy about making big moves and they’re reportedly close to negotiating a trade with the Cleveland Browns for wide receiver Josh Gordon.

Trading Gordon wouldn’t be a surprising move for the Browns after the team announced two days ago that he would be released come Monday. His tenure with Cleveland was rocky, but finally beginning to get back on track after Gordon spent two years away from football. That reportedly came undone because Gordon suffered a surprise hamstring injury before Week 2 and was late to the facility the day before the team’s second game of the year. The Browns ran out of patience.

The trade similarly wouldn’t be a surprise for the Patriots, considering the team’s difficulty at wide receiver. New England could wait for the Browns to release Gordon, but there will been a bidding war if the receiver hits the open market. By trading for him, the Patriots would inherit Gordon’s cheap $700,000 salary, and beat out other teams who were also willing to trade for the receiver.

It has become increasingly unlikely that Gordon is going to become a free agent this week. If he lands in New England, Gordon will bolster a team that is a perennial contender.

How does Gordon fit?

In the Patriots’ 31-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, wide receivers accounted for just 104 collective yards. Tom Brady’s leading receiver on the day was running back James White, who caught seven passes for 73 yards.

Poor play at wide receiver was a problem the Patriots likely saw coming from a mile away. After trading away Brandin Cooks and losing Danny Amendola in free agency, the team has played a game of musical chairs at the position.

Eric Decker, Kenny Britt, Jordan Matthews, and Malcolm Mitchell were all on the Patriots at some point during training camp and preseason, but none are with the team anymore.

Brady is currently relying on Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, and Cordarrelle Patterson until Julian Edelman returns from a four-game suspension. But that corps isn’t cutting it.

Not only are the receivers not producing, but it’s making it easy for defenses to lock down Rob Gronkowski, who caught just two passes for 15 yards against the Jaguars.

In Gordon, the Patriots get the kind of deep-threat receiver that has helped Brady play at his best. The peak of Brady’s Hall of Fame career came in 2007 when he threw 50 touchdowns — 23 of which were caught by Randy Moss, maybe the best ever at tracking deep balls.

Does Brady, at age 41, still have what it takes to take advantage of a player who can take the top off the defense? We’ll just have to see.

Is this a move the Patriots would normally make?

Most definitely.

You’ve probably heard all about “The Patriot Way” and the team’s no-nonsense, somewhat miserable approach to football. But that hasn’t meant a cast of choir boys in New England.

Gordon, 27, was suspended in college at Baylor for a failed drug test and transferred to Utah, but never played for the team. After a quick start to his NFL career in Cleveland, he was suspended 10 games in 2014 for violation of the league’s substance-abuse policy and then all of the 2015 season.

He was reinstated in 2016, but announced just prior to his season debut that he’d enter an in-patient rehab facility. Gordon didn’t return to the Browns until December 2017, nearly three years after his last game.

One more transgression would likely mean the end of his NFL career.

The Patriots have a rigid code that players are expected to adhere to, and the team has no problem parting ways with anyone who steps out of line. That modus operandi has allowed the team to take risks on plenty of players who are considered character risks or headaches.

Moss was just one of those players, along with Albert Haynesworth, Aqib Talib, and Chad Ochocinco. Sometimes it works out, and when it doesn’t, the Patriots cut ties.

So it’s not surprising that the Patriots feel comfortable rolling the dice on Gordon.

Are the Patriots feeling a little desperate?

Maybe, but what’s wrong with that?

Brady is 41 and they only have a finite amount of time to go after another ring. Clearly the receiving corps is an issue and the Browns are offering the Patriots the opportunity to add a ridiculous talented player at the position.

The bigger concern for the Patriots is probably the fact that the team’s defense was just shredded by Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles for 377 yards and four touchdowns. But scoring a lot of points can help a defense out, and if Gordon realizes his potential with the Patriots, the trade will be well worth the cost.