As Josh Gordon prepares for his future with the Cleveland Browns, the former All-Pro is detailing his past.
In a profile with Sports Illustrated released on Tuesday, Gordon opens up about his history with substance abuse, which he says dates back to his childhood in Houston and has resulted in him being suspended for the better part of the past four NFL seasons.
Per SI's Ben Baskin:
Gordon grew up with two older brothers in the Fondren neighborhood of southwest Houston, his family bouncing from apartment to apartment, he says, as eviction notices piled up, rarely able to turn on the lights. He describes being thrown out of two middle schools for stealing electronics from other students. He says he began smoking marijuana in seventh grade, taking Xanax in eighth—and still he managed to land a basketball scholarship to the private Westbury Christian School. He made it to 10th grade before he was thrown out of there as well.
As a sophomore at Lamar High he found himself alone and vulnerable and, he says, joined the Six Deuce Harvard Park Brim Bloods, an offshoot of the South Central L.A. gang. “It was a mentorship,” Gordon says. He’d go every morning to a tattoo parlor and pick up a small .38 special that he put in his pocket or backpack, then he’d return it at the end of the school day.
Gordon also goes on the discuss his tumultuous college career at Baylor, where he estimates he brought in "upward of $10,000 in profit every month" selling marijuana before being indefinitely suspended from the program following a failed drug test.
As a sophomore at Baylor he says he was receiving as much as six pounds of weed—vacuum-sealed and wrapped in Mylar, sprayed with kerosene and covered in coffee beans to mask the smell, shipped through U.S. mail—every week from a dealer back home. He would drive to Dallas, Austin and San Antonio to sell it, and he estimates he was bringing in upward of $10,000 in profit every month. He was arrested for possession in fall 2010 and one year later was indefinitely suspended for failing a school drug test.
Although Gordon downplayed his substance abuse during his time with the Browns to SI, the 2013 Pro Bowl selection told GQ in October that he routinely drank alcohol and smoked marijuana before games throughout his career with the Browns. Gordon, who has not appeared in a regular season game since the 2014 campaign, said he has recently undergone treatment for his issues in Gainesville, Fla. and claims to finally be clean.
Whether or not that will continue to remain true or is merely a part of a narrative Gordon and his manager, Michael Johnson -- who is also featured prominently in the Sports Illustrated profile -- are trying to sell remains to be seen.
Gordon is slated to make his NFL return on Sunday when the Browns will hit the road to take on the Los Angeles Chargers in a 4:05 p.m. ET kickoff. Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson said on Monday that he has "big plans" for Gordon, who led the NFL in receiving with 1,646 yards in 2013.