Josh Gordon Will Not Start Regular Season Opener

Josh Gordon will have to wait a little bit longer to see his first game action of 2018. The Cleveland Browns wide receiver has already been ruled out of Thursday’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions. Now he knows Hue Jackson‘s plan in regards to starting the regular season opener September 9 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I do not care if he is 100 percent,” Jackson said. “He is not starting against Pittsburgh.”

Of course that doesn’t mean he won’t play against the black and gold. Perhaps Jackson’s decision is a penalty for missing the majority of training camp.

“It is tough. As I said before, he is not going to start any way,” Jackson said. “That is not going to change. We will come up with the right package for him to play. I would not expect him to go play the whole game or anything like that, but I expect him to contribute to the football team when we get ready to play Pittsburgh and he is ready to go.”

Gordon may not be starting against the Steelers. However, his goal is to play in the regular season opener in whatever role the coaches choose.

#LIVE: WR Josh Gordon at the podium https://t.co/IvXSmpYzJE

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 27, 2018

“Week 1 regular season, that is my focus,” Gordon said Monday in his first public comments since his return. “That is what I have been told to do. That is what I plan on doing. I have no hard emotions, feelings or thoughts about that. That is up to him (coach Jackson) to decide. It is his team. He is the leader. I want to come in and help this team and organization win any way that I can. Any way that they seem fit to apply me or put me in this system, that is what I am going to do.”

Gordon has also battled through a hamstring injury due to of dehydration. In addition, he is happy to be back with his teammates and away from off the field distractions.

“Life is good,” Gordon said. “In relations to football, it is good to be back. It is good to be in this atmosphere and right where I need to be. Yeah, I am glad. I am good.”

The next goal for Gordon is to be come a leader along side fellow wide receiver Jarvis Landry.

“He is a leader, I know that,” Gordon said. “I do not necessarily even see anything depth chart wise as ones and twos. To me, the group of guys in there as a collective, we are all the same. We share everything. We get excited, and we celebrate together. So if one person does well, we all do well. There are no ones, twos or threes. We are all ones in my eyes.”

Now that the excitement of Gordon’s return has come and gone, it’s time to turn toward what could finally be an exciting season of football in Cleveland in 2018.

“It is a team excitement,” Gordon said. “Overall, you can feel it from not only the players but the staff, training staff, strength and conditioning, upstairs and anywhere really. It is purely just a different aura and presence that it has that I have not felt before. I think people know that something is coming, and as players, we know we have a lot to do with that.”

Scott Piker is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Browns. So follow him on twitter @ScottPikerSport