Week 12 is a bright spot for a resurgent Cleveland Browns, who are trying to make a playoff push for the first time in over a decade. With the return of speedster Josh Gordon, who is undoubtedly one of the best wide receivers in the league, and now leaves the Browns offense at 100% with Brian Hoyer under helm. Gordon hasn't been allowed to participate under the collective bargaining agreement regarding the suspension for his failed drug test, but he was allowed to attend team meetings. I believe the league has overplayed the situation the whole year, and Gordon should've had his suspension reduced to only 4 games, instead of 10 games. Originally, he was handed down an indefinite suspension for the whole 2014 season, although an appeal helped the suspension get reduced. If you reflect on all suspensions handed down this season, this one should have been a minor one, compared to the assault cases of Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice and Ray McDonald.
If you look into the NFL guidelines regarding possession of drugs, it states under the new rules, that a repeated offense of 4 times, immediately results in a 10 game suspension, rather than the entire season. The rules were proposed in September, after many players argued that the suspension handed down for first time offenders were simply too much. This goes for all types of drugs, which should be reviewed again. Back in 2012, the NFL pursued the Richard Sherman case claiming he was taking performance enhancing drugs, and the punishment would have been to equivalent to a regular possession case. In my opinion, the consequences should be more severe than Gordon's standard marijuana case in the offseason, and the NFL needs to reconsider their policies regarding drugs and alcohol charges. With more severe drug penalties before they were updated, the NFL was sending the wrong message and jeopardizing many athlete's careers.
The NFL could use the other major sports as a model when punishing players with possession of drugs and alcohol. The MLB has stricter rules when it comes to drug usage, and monitor players very closely, by drug testing players numerously in a short period of time. For a while, MLB has evolved from a steroid era, in which heavy hitters tacked on a ton of home runs, and accumulated exuberant amounts of money. Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire were the poster children during this era, and are ranked within the all time top 10 in home runs. They cheated, and were punished for it, and Major League Baseball sent a message stating that cheating would not be permitted. The NHL is completely different and only require players to take 2 drug tests per year, including one before the playoffs.The punishment that comes after one failed drug test is an immediate suspension without pay, and two failed drug tests results in a 60 game suspension without pay.
With the return of Josh Gordon, the Browns put themselves as a major contender in the AFC playoff push, that features many strong contenders that have struggled the past few weeks. This puts the Browns as a potential favorite to claim a playoff spot, because they offense can now spread out teams defenses and open up running lanes for Isaiah Crowell and Terrence West. Gordon is coming off a season in which he led the league in receiving yards with 1,646 yards and 9 touchdowns. He averaged nearly 118 receiving yards per game.
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