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Brady Henderson, ESPN 3y

Seattle Seahawks WR Josh Gordon reinstated for last 2 weeks

NFL, Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Josh Gordon has been conditionally reinstated for the final two weeks of the 2020 season, the NFL announced Thursday.

Gordon will be allowed to begin COVID-19 testing Friday and might join the Seahawks on Dec. 9 if he tests negative for the coronavirus.

He will be permitted to take part in meetings, individual workouts, and strength and conditioning but will not be permitted to practice, travel with the team or attend games until Dec. 21, after Seattle's Week 15 game.

Gordon responded to the news of his conditional reinstatement with a tweet that he was "thankful."

The NFL announced Gordon's suspension the day after the Seahawks' Week 15 game last season, so he will have effectively served a one-year ban. It was a mystery to the Seahawks and Gordon why the league was taking so long to deliver a decision, according to sources. Gordon's team applied for reinstatement in mid-June with the hope that he would be reinstated in time for training camp.

He re-signed with the Seahawks on a one-year deal in September. The deal with Seattle includes a $910,000 base salary, a $52,000 roster bonus due after his reinstatement and $80,000 in per-game roster bonuses, according to a source.

He was suspended indefinitely last December for violations of the league's policies on performance-enhancing substances and substances of abuse. It was Gordon's sixth suspension since the 2013 season and his fifth for some form of substance abuse, according to ESPN Stats & Information records.

Gordon's attorney, Adam Kenner, confirmed to ESPN in June that Gordon's latest suspension was the result of a setback he experienced after the death of his brother last fall. Gordon posted on social media on Nov. 11, 2019, the day he made his Seahawks debut, about losing his older brother.

Gordon, 29, adds to the firepower in Seattle's wide receiver corps. DK Metcalf leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,039), and Tyler Lockett (771) is 16th. David Moore, rookie Freddie Swain and Penny Hart have been the team's Nos. 3, 4 and 5 receivers, respectively. Free-agent addition Phillip Dorsett is on injured reserve recovering from foot surgery.

"He's an amazing receiver, a guy who was great last year for us, made some great plays. Obviously he's been a great player over his years and all that. But I think more than anything else, it's a testament hopefully to his growth in life," quarterback Russell Wilson said Thursday. "You always want to see people overcome, overcome challenges and everything else."

Wilson said he has been checking in with Gordon "as a friend, about life and just making sure he's doing well."

"He seems like he's doing really well. I think also too is he's been super supportive of our team. I've seen and I've heard about that he's been really about the team," Wilson said. "... It's important to check on people you care about, and I think hopefully he'll be ready to play and I think also too, just to come in and be an addition to our team. We've got so many great guys making plays right now. So we've just got to stay the course and praying that he's ready to roll."

On his weekly radio show, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Gordon made a great first impression while playing for Seattle last season.

"We've been waiting for this for some time now, and we're really thrilled to be getting him back," Carroll told KIRO Radio 97.3 FM on Friday. "He's a really good kid. He really gets along with everybody. He's just a sharp football player, hard worker, just a tremendously classy athlete.

"... We're just anxious to include him and see if we can get him involved and make him more of a factor when he gets comfortable with us."

Gordon caught seven passes for 139 yards in five games last season with the Seahawks, who claimed the one-time Pro Bowler after he was released off injured reserve by the New England Patriots in November.

He missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons as a member of the Cleveland Browns and was suspended in December 2018 for violating terms of his reinstatement, which led to his missing the final three games of the season with the Patriots.

Gordon was suspended for the first two games of the 2013 season but still caught 87 passes for nine touchdowns and a league-leading 1,646 yards and was named to the All-Pro team.

He has played just 63 games since he was chosen by the Browns in the 2012 supplemental draft. Overall, he has caught 247 passes for 4,252 yards -- an average of 17.2 yards per catch -- and 20 touchdowns.

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