Report: New Browns WR Josh Gordon Failed Three Drug Tests In College

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel /Allsport)

Reporting Matt Loede

CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – A lot of NFL people feel like the Browns got a star in the making in the Supplemental Draft last week when they spent a 2013 second-round pick to take WR Josh Gordon.

With Gordon though comes a complicated past, one that according to Albert Breer of NFL.com includes three failed drug tests in college.

Here’s what Breer wrote about Gordon in an article on the site.

According to sources with four NFL clubs, Gordon failed three drug tests as a collegian. The first two came at Baylor. The latter, according to these sources, came after charges were dropped in his marijuana-related arrest of 2010, and that led to his dismissal from the Baptist school, which has a reputation for being tough on drugs. That led to his transfer to Utah, where he failed another drug test.

Both the Browns and Gordon, through his agent, declined comment when presented with that series of events.

The truth is it’s not uncommon for players to enter the NFL with an off-field issue on their records. Where it becomes troubling, to scouts, is when it starts to affect the player’s career.

“It’s just something where you say, ‘Hey man, put [the marijuana] down’,” said an NFC personnel director. “You never know which way they’ll go when they get here. It’s hard to know how important football is, and how important weed is to the kid. And the environment he goes into is important too. Then, it’s how they mature through the process you put them through.”

The good news on Gordon is despite his past he did voluntarily submitted to a drug test before the draft on Thursday, and passed it. He also posted a solid 24 score on the Wonderlic and posted a respectable score of 24, and has been great in the way he has handled himself to this point with those in the NFL.

“I talked to a zillion guys at both Baylor and Utah,” Browns GM Tom Heckert said on a conference call with the Cleveland media. “To be honest with you, I couldn’t find anybody to say one bad thing about the kid. I really enjoyed meeting with him. It’s something that is out there that we have done our homework on. To say we’re 100 percent, we’re not 100 percent on anybody in the draft, but we felt good enough that he’s going to be a positive influence on our team.”

As long as his past doesn’t creep up on him, Gordon should be a solid fit with the Browns.

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