From the time it was announced that Josh Gordon was going to be released by the Cleveland Browns on social media, Cowboy fans had been in a frenzy of excited anticipation over the possibility of adding a talented pass catcher to help the anemic offense. The need is certainly there and guys as talented as Josh Gordon that come as cheap are few and far between. The frenzy of excitement grew to fever pitch once it was announced that the Browns were fielding offers for trade and Adam Schefter tweeted the following:
Cleveland prefers to trade WR Josh Gordon out of the AFC, and to an NFC team, and that’s the Browns’ current intent, per sources.
Gordon knows he has no say in where he is traded, but the two places he’s hoping to land are with the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 16, 2018
That excitement was tempered to a degree when DallasCowboys.com sporstwriter and trusted source Bryan Broaddus, who was bombarded with Josh Gordon questions on Sunday, said the following:
I don’t see that at all. Know too much there. https://t.co/usEWiMIG9R
— Bryan Broaddus (@BryanBroaddus) September 15, 2018
That may have been enough to burst many a Cowboy fans bubble but any hope of the star wide receiver landing with the Cowboys was completely extinguished after who else but the New England Patriots scooped him up for a 5th round draft pick. Could it be any worse than losing out to the New England Patriots? Well, at least he didn’t end up with the Eagles. The dream had ended almost as soon as it had begun and now that it is believed the Cowboys will bring back former WR Brice Butler, fans across the country are wondering; Why didn’t the Dallas Cowboys attempt to trade for Josh Gordon?
There are several obvious answers to that question. First of all, Gordon has not been all that productive since his explosive season in 2013. His numbers since that breakout season on a per game basis are comparable to another star receiver that the Cowboys decided to part ways with in the offseason.
If Dez Bryant‘s production the last 3 years wasn’t enough to warrant keeping him on the roster than why on earth would Josh Gordon’s?
Another obvious reason the Cowboys would have chosen to avoid Gordon is the immense character concerns. The Browns finally decided they had enough with Gordon after he showed up late for a team meeting. That was only the straw that broke the camel’s back but Cleveland has been putting up with Gordon’s antics for years now and if they want no part of him, why should the Cowboys?
Then of course there is the substance abuse issues. That may not have been the influencing factor in the Browns ultimate decision to move on from Gordon but it is especially relevant for the Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys are still dealing with the likes of David Irving (suspended for violating the leagues substance abuse policy) and of course Randy Gregory who is rumored to have relapsed after just being reinstated in July from an 18 month ban from the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys have enough of these guys to worry about without bringing another one into the mix. There is no need to add to the Cowboys league leading # of games missed due to suspension.
https://cowboyscoffeetalk.com/here-we-go-again-another-offseason-and-more-cowboy-players-suspended/
The bottom line here is that the Cowboys have a very poor track record when it comes to taking on risky players. They have been burned far more times than they have benefited. The New England Patriots on the other hand have a proven track record when it comes to taking chances on players. Aqib Talib, Randy Moss, LeGarrette Blount, , Corey Dillon, and yes Aaron Hernandez are among some of the players the Patriots were able to assimilate into their organization and find success with on the football field. For all of their successes with high risk players there have been failures too such as Albert Haynesworth and Dante Stallworth but never have those failures resulted in disrupting the Patriots on the field performance. Further to that the Patriots are swift and merciless when it comes to rectifying those mistakes. That is not the case with the Cowboys who continually take chances on players only to be burned over and over again when they make the same mistakes. The Dallas Cowboys organization simply cannot handle these distractions like the Bill Belichuk run Patriots can.
Josh Gordon is a New England Patriot now and there is a chance that if he stays clean, he will enjoy a career resurrection similar to what Randy Moss experienced in 2006. If that does happen, Cowboy fans please do not despair. Just remember that if Gordon ended up in Dallas the result would not be the same.
*Photo by Eric Drost https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode