It’s official: Josh Gordon can play in the regular season.
The New England Patriots wide receiver was granted conditional reinstatement on August 16, marking the end of the indefinite suspension he was handed by the NFL in December 2018. According to the NFL, via ProFootballTalk, Gordon on Friday went from conditionally reinstated to officially reinstated.
An NFL spokesperson indicated to NESN.com on Friday afternoon that on August 16, “we announced his conditional reinstatement. Conditions were outlined in the (third paragraph of the press release). He has made the appropriate progress and is eligible to play in the regular season.”
The third graph of the aforementioned press release reads:
“Subject to appropriate progress on clinical care and other arrangements, he will be permitted to participate in team activities including practice. Because he will not have had sufficient conditioning and practice time, however, he may attend but may not play in the Patriots’ Thursday, August 22 game.”
In essence, Gordon has made what the NFL deemed appropriate progress and now is officially reinstated. So when the Patriots kick off the 2019 campaign against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 8 at Gillette Stadium, Gordon will be good to go.
During his conference call Friday, head coach Bill Belichick was asked if Gordon would play in Week 1.
“We haven’t even started the game plan for the Steelers yet, so that’s way too early to try to formulate an answer on that question for him or, I’d say, a lot of other people,” Belichick said.
Gordon had two catches for 30 yards in the Patriots’ preseason finale Thursday.
