Cleveland Browns: Josh Who?

'Tis the season for Josh Gordon workout videos and remembering that the Cleveland Browns no longer have to deal with it. It's such a relief to no longer have that hanging over the organization's head and being able to focus on moving forward.

Videos and talk about Josh Gordon working out are here and my immediate reaction was remembering that Josh Gordon is a thing. It is such a relief that he's no longer a part of the Cleveland Browns and I no longer have to think about it.

To be clear, I hope he is able to find balance in his life and figure things out from a personal standpoint, but from a pure football standpoint, not having a season held hostage is such an improved experience. Every practice, every team event, every anything coming with the standard question for the organization about Gordon's status and having that set the tone for everything.

Waiting for the NFL to make a decision on his status and whether he'd be eligible to play, when he'd be eligible to play and when he finally gets cleared, hoping that he can just make it to Sunday so he can actually play, assuming like he felt like putting in effort on that particular day.

No more seeing people go from saying they want nothing to do with Gordon, that the Browns should release him and move on, to talking themselves into a 37th chance and that this would be the one where he figures it out.
No more talk about blaming the NFL for keeping marijuana a banned substance when that wasn't why he was failing tests.

I don't care that he helped the New England Patriots win a few games and got a Super Bowl ring. I don't care that the Browns used the pick they got for trading Gordon to pick a kicker. I don't care if the kicker is terrible and they get nothing out of the pick. All of that felt like a bonus.

Watching another fanbase go through the same peaks and valleys with Gordon isn't a case of schadenfreude, but it just reinforces how much less stressful it is not to have to even think about it. That does feel good.

Thanks to John Dorsey for cutting the cord and freeing this franchise from the Josh Gordon prison. The Patriots are far better equipped to deal with it, eliminate it as a topic and use him as a bonus as opposed to a focal point.

The worst thing the Browns are currently dealing with are contrived issues that amount to nothing as they get ready for the 2019 season. Everyone is better off for having moved on.
This is Pete Smith for Browns Maven