Time away hasn't hindered skills of Browns' Gordon
Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon missed three years of football because of five substance-abuse suspensions for alcohol, marijuana and codeine.
But the time away hasn't seem to dull the 26-year-old's immense skills. In the three games he's been back, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Gordon has 12 catches for 201 yards and 1 touchdown.
Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was asked if Gordon was still just rounding into shape.
"Well, a little bit," Fangio said. "But he looked pretty (darn) good in that first game, too. So much for the 'You gotta round into shape.' This guy's pretty much come out and played a high, high percentage of their (snaps) - he's only been out a few times."
In 2013, his last full season, Gordon caught 87 passes for a league-best 1,646 yards with 9 touchdowns.
"He's got really good size," Fangio said. "He can run well, he's a good athlete, big catch radius. You can see why they've been so patient with him, waiting for him to come around."
Gordon is a godsend to rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer, who could use all the help he can get.
"He's as big as they come," Kizer said. "He's as fast as they come. He's a LeBron (James)-type body playing football. And with that, there's plenty of opportunities to put the ball in his hands to allow him to be the play-maker that he is.
"Now, it's about doing whatever we can to execute our jobs to make sure the ball is in his hands, so he can be the game-changer that we all know he is."
Kizer said it took him one day of practice to realize Gordon was something special. Gordon stopped running a route because his footwork was messed up, but Kizer threw the ball in rhythm, high and wide of where Gordon had stopped.
"He was able to turn around and barely see the ball, throw his hand up and snag it in like it was no big deal," Kizer said. "And he was upset with himself for not getting to the right depth (on the route). It showed me, 'Hey, this guy is going to be able to go out there and make plays at full speed even better than that one.'"
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