Aimee
Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter believes the Browns need to ‘release’ Josh Gordon in order to help the troubled wide receiver.
Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was arrested over the weekend in Raleigh, N.C., for DWI (while driving P.J. Hairston’s car no less) and speeding. This is not Gordon’s first run-in with the law and he’s staring down a possible one-year suspension/ban from the NFL.
No one knows what the Browns will do with Gordon (or what they can do), but Hall of Fame wide receiver and ESPN analyst Cris Carter believes the Browns should cut him.
“I feel for the kid. And I feel for all kids in this situation. My situation is very, very similar but there were some differences,” Carter said. “If I’m the Cleveland Browns, and this is gut-wrenching to say this, but I really believe the only thing that’s going to help the kid is if they release him.”
Carter knows about substance abuse in the NFL: He was released by Buddy Ryan when he played for the Eagles because of off-field issues. Carter told ESPN’s Mike and Mike “street cocaine was my biggest problem” but he struggled with alcohol as well.
Eventually he would land in Minnesota, get sober and excel as a football player. Carter thinks everyone “coddling” Gordon is the primarily problem.
“We’re dealing with addiction, man. We’re dealing with disease. If Josh had cancer we’d put him in a treatment center,” Carter said. “And right now that’s what we need to do for him. No one wants to do the hard thing. Everyone wants to keep coddling him, the same way they did in high school, the same way they did in Baylor — which he had problems — and eventually it’s going to blow up … and his career is in jeopardy.”
Additionally, Carter thinks cutting Gordon would help him find his “breaking point” (or “rock bottom” if you will) and could help him turn his life around.
