Last September, Josh Gordon announced his retirement from the NFL after eight seasons of a rollercoaster ride in the league.
His peaks were pretty high — he led the NFL in receiving yards in 2013 as a member of the Cleveland Browns and found himself traded to the New England Patriots midway through the 2018 season, the last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl championship — but he has also had some depressing lows.
He gave an honest assessment about his time in Cleveland and admitted he wished it would’ve gone better for him.
> “I wish I would have done better. It’s one of those situations in life where I have to look back and I have to grow from it. As you get older, you mature. I was blessed to play in Cleveland and everywhere, experience the NFL at the highest level. I don’t take it lightly. At this point in life, it’s nice to see I had any impact on the game at all, really,” Gordon [said](https://casinobeats.com/2025/03/05/josh-gordon-exclusive-it-feels-liberating-to-be-retired-from-nfl/).
The big problem Gordon had over the years was his issues with using banned drugs, which caused him to be suspended by the NFL multiple times and even spend time in an inpatient rehabilitation facility at one point.
After he was traded to the Patriots, one of those suspensions late in the season forced him to sit and watch as they won their sixth and final Vince Lombardi Trophy of the Tom Brady era.
Although Gordon didn’t play in the postseason, the Patriots still awarded him with a championship ring.
It is a sad fact that Gordon is one of those “what-if” stories in the Browns’ star-crossed history, along with troubled former quarterback Johnny Manziel and signal-caller Baker Mayfield, who has become his best self over the last two years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But for those brief stretches when he was right physically and mentally, Gordon was undeniably a force in pro football.
[NEXT: Insider Reveals The Only Scenario In Which Nick Chubb Could Return To Browns](https://www.brownsnation.com/insider-reveals-the-only-scenario-in-which-nick-chubb-could-return-to-browns/)