I’m not sure what is rock bottom when it comes to wide receiver Josh Gordon’s professional career in football. In Gordon’s sophomore year at Baylor University, he fell asleep in the Taco Bell drive thru with your teammate in procession of marijuana and not the gummy version as this was 2010. Talk about making a run for the border which could have made a nice commercial for Taco Bell with that little scary dog. Rock bottom for Gordon was not in 2014 speeding in North Carolina intoxicated. Gordon on that day had a blood alcohol .09 over the legal limit. Missing three full NFL seasons due to violating the NFL league substance abuse policy as Gordon racked up six suspensions in his career. I think rock bottom was playing Fan Controlled Football league for the Zappers with former teammate Johnny “Football” Manziel. In 2013, Josh “the Flash” Gordon led the NFL in receiving yards. Gordon who has more football lives than a cat, maybe on his last with the third relaunch of the XFL as he has made the roster of the Seattle Sea Dragons.

The Cleveland Browns drafted Josh Gordon 2nd out of the 2012 Supplemental draft. I think the Supplement draft is the players that have ridden on the short bus their entire lives. After Gordon’s run for the border, he eventually was busted again for the Mary Jane by his coach in 2011 at Baylor University. Gordon would transfer out of Baylor University and leave the state of Texas where he was born and raised, and headed to Utah University. Gordon did not get on the field and missed the 2011 Supplemental draft. The Browns gave their new dog a home and pay him 5.3 million in a four year contract. Gordon’s rookie year he did not disappoint the Browns organization who usually end up with their own noses rubbed in their players’ steamy hot piles on the floor. Gordon led all rookie receivers that year with 50 catches & 805 yards with 5 touchdowns. Then in 2013, Flash became a superhero on the NFL Gridiron as he caught 87 passes for 1,646 yards while catching 9 touchdown passes. In his third year in a Browns uniform Gordon could not find that magic he had as his numbers dropped drastically to 24 catches & 303 yards no touchdowns. Gordon then would miss the entire 2015 & 16 season as old demons come back to haunt the receiver. In 2017, Gordon was not the Flash as he once was, as he’s limited to 5 games as he caught 18 balls for 335 yards and had a touchdown. In 2018, Gordon would play for the Browns one more game as he caught 1 pass for 17 yards. Gordon would take his talents to New England and Seattle before missing his third full season for violating once again the league’s Substance Abuse policy. In 2021, Gordon would play 12 games in Kansas City only getting 14 targets as he did snag a touchdown catch. Last year, Gordon resurfaced in Tennessee, played in two games for the Titans, targeted once, and came away with no catches. Gordon’s career numbers in the NFL has him catching 252 balls for 4, 284 yards with 21 catches.

The XFL kind of has the same career style as a Josh Gordon as they both keep resurfacing. The world can go into an all out Nuclear wasteland and the cockroaches and Gordon and the XFL will still be playing some kind of football. The original XFL was a circus and lasted one season in 2001. Then the pandemic ruined the XFL mid way through the second relaunch in 2020 as the league cancelled the remainder of the season as the future was unpredictable and bleak. The second coming of the XFL was actually football being played with no circus wrestling involved. Why is the XFL and the Flash Gordon the perfect marriage? Let’s face the facts that most players who play in these Spring leagues want to use these leagues like the XFL and USFL as a spring board back to the NFL or this next go around making the roster. Sure some of these players in these leagues just want to play football for a few more years before they jump into the business world or sales, digging ditches, or even being a male gigolo. I’m sure Josh Gordon wants to get back to the NFL. Gordon is a bigger name in the XFL and people will be interested in watching to see what he can do as people want to see if he does well or folds under the pressure of his past demons. If Gordon does well and becomes a star of the league, it helps the league grow. If the XFL survives and grows, Gordon could just finish his days playing in a lower pressure environment as he’s only 31 years old. The XFL will ride the coattails on a talent and comeback story that Gordon could have. If Gordon prevails and makes the jump back to the NFL, and can beat his past, he may be an asset as a third down receiver for a team willing to take a risk on him. If Gordon can’t succeed in the XFL, he may have to start filling out applications & just hope they don’t have a drug screen.