The NFL has once again suspended receiver Josh Gordon, this time for violating both the PED policy and the substance-abuse policy. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson believes that Gordon eventually will be back in Seattle.
“I got pretty close with Josh,” Wilson told reporters this week. “You’re going to miss him obviously as a player, but more importantly as a friend and as a guy you bonded with pretty quickly. We’ve been staying in touch and all that. I just pray for him. I really believe that prayer works. I really believe that relationships and friendships work in supporting no matter what we go through. We all have stuff. We all have things that we go through. I’m just praying for him and rooting for him. He’ll overcome. He’s going to overcome, and I really believe that. Hopefully, he’ll get another chance to play with us because he was fun to play with.”
Wilson touted Gordon’s work ethic and desire for greatness, while also elaborating on his sense that Gordon will be back.
“I just believe,” Wilson said. “For me, I have no other choice to just believe that he’s going to overcome it. Why would you think the other way? I think for me and just my faith and all that, I just fundamentally believe that prayer works. Just praying for him and rooting that he can overcome.”
It’s unclear when Gordon ran afoul of the PED and substance-abuse policies, but based on the way Wilson characterized Gordon’s time in Seattle, it sounds like everything went well there.
“I think this environment has been great for him, to be honest with you,” Wilson said. “He really fit in, in terms of just the everyday part of the process. Since day one he got here, he was studying and working and highlighting. Doing all the extra work. He had the biggest smile on his face. I talked to him a little bit about that, too. He was just like, ‘Man, this is the place I want to be. This is the place that helped changed my life a little bit and I’m getting better.’ I think that all those things, you hope that he can come back to us and play with us. More importantly, it’s about him. It’s about his soul. It’s about life. It’s about all the things that we all have to go through and overcome.”
Gordon has continued to fight to overcome the issues that have kept him off the field. Still only 28, Gordon may have some good football left, if he can indeed make it back, again, and stick around, for a change.
