There reportedly were a few teams interested in acquiring Josh Gordon’s services before the New England Patriots completed a trade with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the polarizing wide receiver.
One of those teams that reportedly was interested was the San Francisco 49ers, as they still are looking to get franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo some more dangerous offensive weapons.
49ers general manager John Lynch discussed his team’s brief attempt to trade for Gordon, noting that he quickly elected not to pursue the trade, in large part because of Gordon’s extensive off-field issues.
“I think in that situation, like any situation, if there’s a chance to improve your team, you always look into it,” Lynch told KNBR on Thursday, as transcribed by The San Francisco Chronicle. “But in certain situations, particularly when you have knowledge of a player, you sit back and you weigh it. Sometimes it’s intriguing. But then … particularly when you have knowledge of someone, the more you look into it: You know what — we’re going to stay away from that.”
That knowledge Lynch is referring to likely is the fact that head coach Kyle Shanahan served as Browns offensive coordinator in 2014. Gordon was suspended for the first 10 games of the season by the NFL following his second violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. He also was suspended for the team’s Week 17 game that season for missing practice.
“They were with him in Cleveland, and so they knew the player very well,” Lynch said speaking about Shanahan and special teams coach Richard Hightower and assistants Mike McDaniel and Jeff Hafley. “Obviously, (he’s) an unbelievable talent. Obviously, had a lot of issues. So you try to weigh that, and you kind of have to say, ‘OK, what’s it worth, number one? Number two, is it something … we’ve got a really good thing in our building in terms of the guys and the type of guys we’ve got in here. And do you want to mess with that?”
Lynch has revamped the 49ers in short order, starting with the trade for Garoppolo last October, and has San Francisco looking like a potential playoff contender in Year 2 of his watch.
While Gordon is undeniably talented, he only has played in 11 out of his last 65 games due to those off-field issues. The Patriots hope he can give quarterback Tom Brady the downfield weapon he has been lacking, but many of those who have been around the 27-year-old are skeptical he can make it work in New England.
