Can Josh Gordon return to being an elite wideout?(Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports)
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was activated from the non-football injury list Monday and returned to practice.
Gordon’s participation in practice was his first since December 2014. The 25-year-old had been reinstated from a one-year suspension on July 25, but a quad injury kept him on the sideline for an additional two weeks.
Gordon has run afoul from the NFL due to multiple violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy. He also will sit out the first four games of the upcoming season, although coach Hue Jackson told reporters that he has yet to decide if Gordon will play against Atlanta in Thursday’s preseason contest.
“That is to be determined,” Jackson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I don’t think it will be about conditioning. Our process has gotten him where he needs to be. He’s been doing more things, more and more and more each week.”
Johnson overcame a two-game suspension to record a league-leading 1,646 receiving yards during the 2013 season. He was banned for the initial 10 games of the 2014 campaign before serving a season-long suspension the following year.
