Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Josh Gordon has been suspended indefinitely without pay for violating the NFL's policies on performance-enhancing drugs and substances of abuse, the team announced Monday.
The Seahawks announced the suspension on social media with a one-sentence statement, attributed to a league spokesperson.
Gordon, 28, has long struggled with substance-abuse issues since being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2012. This is the third indefinite suspension that the league has levied against him.
The Baylor product was suspended indefinitely in 2015 after a series of violations before being reinstated in 2017. He was then indefinitely suspended again last year shortly after he announced he would step away from football to focus on his mental health. Gordon also faced drug-related suspensions in 2013 (two games) and 2014 (10 games).
Gordon has played in 11 games so far this season with the Seahawks and New England Patriots, who placed him on injured reserve and then waived him earlier this year. He has caught a total of 27 passes for 426 yards and one touchdown in 2019, including a 58-yard reception in Seattle's win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in a news conference he was "not aware there was anything to be concerned about."
"I learned today it was coming," Carroll said. "Heart goes out to Josh having to face this again. Fortunately, he'll have the benefit of all the league's resources to help him. Very unfortunate."
A Houston native, Gordon has been open in recent years about his issues, which he said trace back to childhood. He told GQ in 2017 that he has had multiple stints in rehab and regularly smoked marijuana or drank alcohol before games.
"Initially it started for me, (because of) a lot of childhood and adolescent trauma-based fear, " Gordon told the magazine. "You self-medicate with Xanax, with marijuana, codeine — to help numb those nerves so you can just function every day. That became the norm from middle school to high school. So by the time I got into my 20s, I was on an accelerated pace."
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