The Cleveland Browns have suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon for an unspecified violation of team rules one day before their season finale against the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns announced the suspension in a release Saturday. Wide receiver Phil Bates has been promoted from the practice squad to replace Gordon on the active roster. The team later announced that Bates did not even make the trip to Baltimore and would not play on Sunday. Both Gordon and rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel were absent from the Browns' walk-through Saturday morning, and the team had trouble locating them, a source close to the team told ESPN's Pat McManamon. Gordon also was late getting onto the practice field Friday and emerged from the team's facility for the outdoor workout wearing teammate Travis Benjamin's jersey. The Browns did not mention Manziel in their release, and Manziel made the trip to Baltimore with the team, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. Manziel was placed on injured reserve after suffering a hamstring injury in last week's loss to Carolina. Source: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12083760/josh-gordon-suspended-cleveland-browns-season-finale
One has to wonder if the Browns suspended him to keep him as a restricted free agent. If he had played 6 games this season, he'd been an unrestricted free agent... I'm sure there's gonna be a legal battle there...safe to say no matter the outcome, Gordon won't be back in Cleveland...
wasn't the walk through mandatory for Gordon since he was not on the IR ? I'm not sure Gordon has a leg to stand on if he wants to go the legal route. Players simply are not allowed to miss mandatory practices. It's in their contracts.
