Flash in the Pan

Ryan McDowell Posted On January 26, 2015

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By now, you’ve likely already heard the big news of the day, and if you haven’t, you won’t be surprised. Earlier this afternoon, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Browns’ receiver Josh Gordon has failed yet another drug test and will likely be suspended for a full year. We later learned that Gordon actually tested positive for alcohol, which is a violation due to his past indiscretions and his inclusion in the league’s substance abuse program. No matter your opinion on Gordon and his right to drink alcohol if he chooses, this was a clear violation and there is little defense for his actions.

Before I address what dynasty owners should do with Gordon given today’s news, let’s quickly look back at this history of Gordon’s off-field issues. Maybe this won’t be so quick…

October 2010- Gordon is suspended by Baylor University after drugs were found in a car in which he was a passenger.

July 2011- Gordon was suspended indefinitely after testing positive for marijuana.

June 2013- Gordon is suspended by the NFL for two games after violating the league’s substance abuse policy.

July 2014- Gordon is arrested for driving under the influence.

August 2014- The NFL announces a year long ban for Gordon following another violation of the substance abuse policy. After a new drug policy was agreed to, Gordon’s suspension was reduced to ten games.

December 2014- Gordon is suspended by the Browns for the regular season finale, due to a violation of team rules.

Along with each of these, there are also other issues, which we don’t have as much information about, but paint an even worse picture of the talented receiver.

With this long history of substance abuse despite repeated chances by colleges, the Browns and the NFL as a whole, Gordon continues to show a pattern of an addict. This is not a player, no matter the talent, that you want to count on, either as an NFL fan or a dynasty football owner.

When I saw the news this afternoon, the first thing I did was check in to move Gordon down my rankings. Prior to this, Gordon was DLF’s fourteenth ranked wide receiver, a lofty ranking considering the stacked group of wideouts we’re currently blessed with. He was just below Mike Evans and ahead of Brandon Marshall, Keenan Allen and TY Hilton, to give you an idea of how he was being valued entering the day. We also have his ADP data to point to, in which you’ll notice the spikes in value following both his unbelievable 2013 season, as well as some of the off-field issues previously mentioned.

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[inlinead]While Gordon’s value was unlikely to ever hit the peak it did in the early portion of the off-season a year ago, you can see he was beginning to move back into the top tier of dynasty assets. I even chose Gordon in the first round of a dynasty startup mock held on a recent episode of the DLF Dynasty Podcast.

Deciding what to do with Gordon now will be a difficult decision for dynasty owners in every league. In fact, it could come down to the type of league you’re in and what settings and rules your league uses. Before addressing that, let’s be clear that Gordon has very little, if any, trade value. That’s right! He went from potential first round startup pick to no trade value with the time it took for one Adam Schefter tweet.

Just because he has no trade value does not mean he doesn’t have roster value, though. Based on what we know right now, you’ll have to hold Gordon for 20 months before he has a chance to regain value by playing in a meaningful NFL game. If you play in a dynasty league with large rosters of at least 25 players per team, you might be able to withstand the temptation to drop him while we see this next chapter play out. If you play in a league with significantly fewer spots though, the roster spot will become too valuable at some point and you’ll simply have to release Gordon, unless you can find someone willing to gamble for minimal cost.

Also, if you play in a contract league where you are limited by valuable years or dollars, it’s impossible to carry that type of dead weight on your roster. No matter what I, or anyone else at DLF might say, you probably already know what you’ll do with Gordon. You may have already dumped him to the waiver wire before reading this article. Or you might have someone in your league who you know is willing to take a chance on talent. This might be the same team that is hanging onto Justin Blackmon.

Enough about where this situation leaves us as dynasty owners, where does it leave the Browns?

Things were already bad even before this news and this just makes the situation even cloudier. The team certainly bombed with their signing of free agent running back Ben Tate last off-season and the selection of quarterback Johnny Manziel is looking like a bad one so far as well. The team’s starting quarterback is unknown, which team officials recently acknowledged. While they do have a pair of good young running backs in Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West, they lack talent at the receiver position with undersized veteran Andrew Hawkins their best option on the current depth chart. The one bit of good news is that the Browns have a pair of first round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, but there is little hope that the team will nail those picks, as they must do to recover from their current state.

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Ryan McDowell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

In addition to his senior leadership role here at DLF, Ryan is also a husband, father of three and PE teacher. Ryan is the commissioner of multiple dynasty leagues, most notably the Kitchen Sink Dynasty Leagues. Here at DLF, Ryan’s focus is on identifying, monitoring and analyzing player value.