Josh Gordon eligible to join Browns teammates Monday

ByPAT MCMANAMON
November 20, 2017, 4:55 PM

— -- BEREA, Ohio -- Josh Gordon can join his Cleveland Browns teammates on the field effective Monday.

The Browns don't practice until Wednesday, so the most Gordon will do Monday is work with teammates, perhaps catching passes or running routes. Wednesday will be the day Gordon can work with the entire team in practice.

It's all part of Gordon's reinstatement into the NFL after he had been suspended the past two seasons and for 53 or the Browns last 58 games.

Gordon was reinstated conditionally by the NFL on Nov. 1. He was allowed to be in the building and work out on his own for two weeks, and is allowed to practice for two weeks before he can play in a game.

The earliest Gordon can be placed on the active roster is Nov. 27, though the Browns are not obligated to activate him from the Commissioner's Exempt list until Dec. 4. The team could release Gordon at any time.

The first game Gordon is eligible will be Dec. 3 in Los Angeles against the Chargers. That makes Gordon able to play the final five games of the season.

The five games is significant. Had Gordon been reinstated for six, he could have gained an accrued season in the NFL and been a restricted free agent after the season. Because he will only play five games, the Browns will retain his rights through the 2018 season.

Gordon has two seasons played in the NFL -- 2012 and 2013. He was suspended the first 10 games of 2014, and the final game by the team for missing a walk-through the day before the finale.

That meant he needed another season of at least six games to be credited for his third season, which would have made him eligible for restricted free agency, an appealing option to a player with as much talent as Gordon.

But he played no games in 2015 and '16, though, and will only play five this season.

All is contingent on Gordon staying clean and sober following a rehab treatment program he completed in the fall. Any slip and Gordon will be suspended again.

The last time Gordon played in a regular-season game was Dec. 21, 2014, when he had four catches for 45 yards in a loss in Carolina. If he plays he would have gone 1,078 days between games.