What Can Josh Gordon Do for the Cleveland Browns Offense?

Josh Gordon has one of the best documented backgrounds of an NFL receiver with 161 receptions in the history of the sport. While there's hype surrounding his 2016 return to the field, the receiver's talent and record of ineligibility can hardly be matched by anyone in recent memory.

By the time the Cleveland Browns used a second-round pick to select Gordon in the 2012 supplemental draft, he had already spent time at two college programs. According to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, Gordon first saw trouble at Baylor when he was arrested for marijuana possession at a Taco Bell—a charge which was eventually dropped.

Baylor head coach Art Briles, who was fired this past May for the mishandling of sexual assault allegations against his own players, afforded Gordon a chance to redeem himself, allowing him to play through the pending charge. Gordon's second strike, which he told McClain was a failed drug test, found him suspended from the team:

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It was due to a failed marijuana test. It was against school policy, of course, and I was (suspended) in the summer. I’ve definitely put that part of my life behind me. I don’t plan to ever go back there. It was a difficult time, but I learned from it, and I’ve moved on.

"

With the suspension being executed after the draft, Gordon elected to transfer to Utah rather than initially throwing his hat in the ring for the supplemental draft, but he eventually declared for the alternative draft anyway. This could have been due to another failed drug test, as Gordon told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com that he had another drug issue at his second stop on his college tour.

As a rookie in 2012, Gordon finished third in his draft class with 805 receiving yards and tied for second in touchdowns with five, behind only T.Y. Hilton. Hilton is now on a $65 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts, while Gordon is in the last year of his rookie contract, making just north of $1 million, should he finish the 2016 season on the Browns roster.

As a sophomore in the NFL, Gordon's issue with substances popped up again, as he entered the year on a two-game suspension from a drug test which featured traces of codeine. Gordon told Cabot at the time his drug use wasn't "recreational," though, claiming he was using medicine prescribed to him, all while still apologizing to his teammates.

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Despite the setback, as just a 22-year-old, he led the NFL in receiving yards in 2013, locking up spots at the Pro Bowl and on the All-Pro First Team. The narrative at that point in his career was as such: Hardly anyone could remember a receiver that talented at his age, but for him to reach a Randy Moss-like peak, he needed to stay clean, and he was just one strike away from missing an entire season.

The summer of 2014 was when that narrative tipped from "I hope he can stay on the field" to "he might need help."

In July, Gordon was arrested for driving under the influence in North Carolina, when his blood alcohol level was at .09 at the time of his arrest. In August, it was confirmed Gordon would miss the entire season for another failed drug test, due to marijuana.

With a change in the league's drug policy in September of that year, though, Gordon's suspension was then dropped to a 10-game ban, allowing him to play in five games. He had 303 receiving yards and no touchdowns in that stretch, far from his 1,646-yard and nine-touchdown impact from just a year before.

He only played in five of the potential six games he could have that season due to a Week 17 violation of team rules that led the Browns to suspend him. The presumed nail in Gordon's coffin was when Adam Schefter of ESPN reported in January 2015 that the receiver had failed a test for alcohol, which resulted in a year-long suspension.

If not for the timing of the NFL's changing drug policies, the last time we would have seen the former Baylor wideout would have been the 2013 season. Since then, he's been suspended for 27 of 32 games, enough to make you second-guess if he still is the same athlete.

To put that into perspective, 2013 was also the year Jimmy Graham led the NFL with 16 touchdowns receptions while positing a 1,215-yard season for the New Orleans Saints. In 2015, Graham had just two touchdowns and 605 receiving yards with the Seattle Seahawks. Assuming a player is the same as he was two-and-a-half calendar years ago is a volatile conclusion, but Gordon hasn't given us much of an alternative.

2016 has been a bit of a saga itself when it comes to Gordon. A month before the draft, a source told Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo he failed yet another drug test, but he was reinstated by the NFL this past week with just a four-game suspension to serve.

Now slated to come back in Week 5 against the New England Patriots, when Tom Brady will also return to the field from his Deflategate suspension, Gordon has the opportunity to turn the trajectory of his career around. At 25, he's young, barely a year older than 2016 first-round receiver Josh Doctson.

To tackle the question of what he might look like under new head coach Hue Jackson's offensive system, though, you must first dig back through his 2013 and 2014 seasons and study how Jackson's system was schemed around similar receivers at his last stop in Cincinnati.

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Slot wheel for 74 yards. He can catch over his head, he just struggles when he's asked to attack it in the air. pic.twitter.com/025oazpowU

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 30, 2016"

As an underneath receiver, Gordon is somewhat underdeveloped. He only thrived on crossing patterns and screens in his time in Cleveland—plays where he caught balls in open space. His game has always been based off his fluid hips and his long speed, not his route running or ability to make difficult catches in traffic.

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Josh Gordon getting about 25 yards after the catch on a screen out of the slot. CLE liked playing him there in 2014. pic.twitter.com/FYnpIX7CtD

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 30, 2016"

With the Browns, Gordon was often moved inside and outside in trips formations to get man-coverage looks or easy, quick screen looks, which reflects how Jackson used receiver A.J. Green in Cincinnati. The Bengals ran similar concepts for Green as the Browns did Gordon, though they often ran screens out of twins instead of trips. They didn't run crossing patterns as shallow as the Browns did, and they used more curl patterns.

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Gordon's best traits are his hips and how smooth he can get to top speed. Flips hips and hits the gas for 95 yards. pic.twitter.com/QmPAxeeSUj

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 30, 2016"

That last part may be an issue for Gordon, who hasn't proved to be a great player coming out of breaks, but one missed tackle against the receiver, who himself goes by "Flash Gordon" on Twitter, can mean a breakaway touchdown in space. Should he improve on short breaks, he could take his game to another level.

As an intermediate receiver, Gordon provides little upside with his route running. Running him across the middle of the defense at 15 yards would be a poor use of his deep ball ability, and considering Jackson's history of tailoring his system to his talent, you shouldn't expect much of that from Gordon in 2016.

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Hue Jackson was able to get a speed/hips WR the ball last year, even with AJ McCarron throwing the ball pic.twitter.com/JmsyQbk6i4

— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) July 30, 2016"

With the pairing of Gordon and Corey Coleman, another former Baylor receiver who was drafted in the first round this past draft, it would be wise to assume the Browns will test the deep portion of the field more than ever before.

Considering how Jackson used twins looks to attack Cover 2 defenses, with a slot receiver running into the middle of the field and with Green isolated one-on-one on the outside, his approach to the deep game is placing the stress of two fast deep targets on one safety, allowing for athletic receivers to make athletic plays.

If those two players are Gordon and Coleman, who ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at his pro day, according to NFL Draft Scout, that's a nearly impossible task for a single safety to take on. The adjustment to that would be rolling high coverages to their side of the field, opening up space for receivers on the opposite side of the field, opening up lanes in the ground game and allowing Gordon to make plays off those shallow crossing patterns.

The blueprint is laid out for the Browns to use that pair of receivers, as long as defenses have to respect the threat of the ground game. Even when backup quarterback AJ McCarron was in for Andy Dalton last season, Jackson's offense was able to move the ball and get Green targets.

With Robert Griffin, another reclamation project, taking all the first-team reps at quarterback in early training camp, per Cabot, Jackson has to get him up to speed. If the new administration simply narrows down misfired balls to overthrown balls, rather than shots that ask Gordon to attack a pass physically, then there's no reason why the team can't improve on its 20 passing touchdowns to 12 interceptions ratio from 2015.

The majority of Gordon's career has been littered with questions of "if." With the schematic and personnel advantage he's been given in Jackson and Coleman, if he doesn't put it all together from Week 5 to Week 17 this season, this could be the last time we look at Gordon as a potential star, rather than one who fell out of the sky.