Browns' Josh Gordon conditionally reinstated again by Roger Goodell, can play Dec. 3

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- You know that star receiver the Browns have been hoping will ride in on a white horse and save them? He's arrived. Josh Gordon is back.

The Browns' oft-suspended Pro Bowl receiver has been reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell from his indefinite drug ban on a conditional basis, the league announced Wednesday.

He rejoins an 0-8 team in desperate need of receivers and a victory. But he hasn't played since the second-to-last game of the 2014 season -- almost three years ago, and was extremely rusty upon returning after a 10-game ban that year. Since the last time he set foot on the field, the Browns have gone 4-37.

Gordon, who met with Goodell at the NFL offices in New York on Tuesday, will be eligible to practice with the team beginning Nov. 20 and eligible to play the last five games, beginning Dec. 3 at the Los Angeles Chargers. The five games leaves him one short for an accrued season, meaning the Browns would retain his right for two more seasons after this.

"We've been informed of the league's decision to reinstate Josh," Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown said in a release from the NFL. "The personal well-being of all our players is of the utmost importance to us.

"We respect and commend Josh for taking the steps necessary to have the opportunity to return to the league. Josh will be in our building in the coming days and we look forward to having him back and sitting with him to discuss his future on our team."

The Browns are proceeding with caution, understandably. They welcomed Gordon, 26, back with open arms before the 2016 season when he was conditionally reinstated with a four-game suspension, and he relapsed before playing his first game. He checked himself into rehab for the third time at that point, and said he needed some time away to get his life together.

Some close to him said the stress and pressure of returning was too much, and he turned back to alcohol and other substances.

This time around, the Browns will spend even more time talking to him and determining where he is in his recovery from a decade of substance use.

But fresh off a 90-day stint in a rehab facility in Gainesville, Fla., that ended in September -- his fourth known time in rehab -- Gordon has said he's determined to make it stick this time. He must have made a compelling argument to Goodell.

"As emphasized at today's meeting, everyone - including Josh's teammates and coaches, the Browns' ownership and organization, the Program professionals and all of us at the league office -- want him to have every opportunity to resume his career and to be successful in the NFL," Goodell said in the release.

"Whether that happens, however, at the end of the day will depend on Josh. His commitment to sobriety and to reaching his goals in football and beyond will determine his success. It ultimately is up to Josh."

Under contract with the Browns for two more seasons, the 2012 supplemental pick out of Baylor has some allies in the building, including owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, and Jim Brown, who helped broker his return to the league last season.

Coach Hue Jackson seemed to be done with Gordon when he relapsed last season, but the organization has made the commitment to give him another chance.

Gordon's business manager Michael Johnson sent a text to NFL Network Wednesday night proclaiming, ''the best football player in the world is back in the NFL.''

Effective immediately, Gordon can begin attending meetings, conditioning and individual workouts. He'll start out on the Commissioner's exempt list pending medical exams and clinical requirements, and will be permitted to practice with the team beginning Nov. 20.

On Nov. 27, the Browns, who are on a bye this week, can either activate him or he can remain on the exempt list for another week. If he's activated right away, he can play in Los Angeles on Dec. 3.

Gordon had been suspended indefinitely since September of 2016 without pay for multiple violations of the league's substance abuse policy. But his suspension history goes back much further than that, all the way to 2013, and he's been banned for 51 of the Browns' last 56 games.

Gordon has since come clean on his long and extensive history of substance abuse and how he was recently "scared for my life.''

"I think it might be therapeutic for me to talk about it,'' Gordon said Oct. 10 in a mini-documentary on Uninterrupted, a digital media company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. "I'm in the position I'm in now and I'm grateful for it. I'm able to give this message and this opportunity for you to learn from my mistakes and for me to tell them my story."

Gordon, who repeatedly denied using during his time with the Browns, admitted the laundry list of substances that derailed his life and NFL career.

"I've used alcohol on many, many occasions, Xanax on many occasions, cocaine several occasions, marijuana most of my life, codeine, cough syrup, methazine is very prevalent where I'm from," Gordon said. "It's what I grew up using.''

The first time Gordon was suspended, for two games in 2013 for testing positive for codeine, he insisted it was from prescribed cough syrup, and not the "lean'' or "purple drank'' that it likely really was. After a DUI in 2014, he checked himself into rehab for two weeks, but insisted afterwards that he didn't have a problem.

It kicked off a four-year period of denial and lies to himself, the Browns and his loved ones.

After he got out rehab last year, he moved to Gainesville with his business manager Michael Johnson, and began working out with former Olympic sprinter Tim Montgomery, who turned his own life around and runs N.U.M.A Speed, which stands for 'never underestimate my ability.'

One night over the summer, Gordon was wandering the streets of Gainesville looking for a drug deal, and became scared for his life.

"It was so strange, but I just had a desire to stop,'' he said. "I had the desire to get help, invest myself 100 percent into whatever was going to help save my life. It never really set in the severity of if you fail a drug test, this is over. They're not going to let you keep playing. I never really took it serious. I thought I could keep on doing it and get away with it and get away with it."

He said he's developed a bond with Goodell throughout his ordeal.

"He gets a bad rap ... but for me, he's a great guy,' said Gordon. "He's been a friend to me, a mentor to me in a way he may not even understand. And I ... told him how bad and desperately I want to get better and I want to stop drinking and I don't want to do this anymore. I want to get the opportunity to get my life back.''

Gordon added, "I need to live out my amends. I need to try to make right for all my past transgressions and mistakes and show and prove I can be a better person, I can be a better man. Somebody who is accountable, reliable because I know what's on the other side of that. If given the opportunity, I believe I can prove my worth."

The Browns are hoping so, too.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.