FOXBORO, Mass. — Wide receiver Josh Gordon returned to the New England Patriots noticeably bulked up this summer. It seems to be by design.
Gordon reported to the Patriots at 245 pounds and is down to 236 or 237 pounds, NFL Media’s Mike Giardi reported Friday. Gordon said Friday that he’s in the best shape of his short Patriots career.
“Oh yeah, by far. By far,” Gordon repeated. “I don’t have any injuries this year, fortunately. Me and (strength and conditioning coach) Moses Cabrera have been in the training room every morning getting after it and continue to grow. It’s only Week 2. I’m excited, we’re all excited to see what happens halfways toward the end of the season. I think it’s going to be a huge upside at that point.”
It’s good to see Gordon looking forward to midseason. He’s dealt with numerous suspensions throughout his eight-year NFL career. He was reinstated to the team in mid-August.
Gordon worked out of the slot more in the Patriots’ Week 1 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers than he did at any point last season. He looked a little Rob Gronkowski-esque making a big catch and absorbing an even bigger hit on a seam route. Gordon also had defenders bouncing off of him after taking a catch on a crossing route for a touchdown.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was hesitant to say Gordon could be used like a tight end, however.
“I mean, I guess he could. It depends,” Belichick said. “A lot of tight end routes are different than the receiver routes just as a fundamental part of the offense. So, when you start to talk about tight ends playing receiver, that takes a special kind of athlete and a special type of — I mean, there’s techniques to playing receiver that are different from playing tight end. There are techniques that are different from playing receiver, and include slot receiver.
“They’re just different positions. So, I mean, could you line him up there? Yeah, I guess you could line him up there, but you’re talking about putting a guy into a new world really, on a lot of levels. Seeing the game from the inside-out, seeing the game from the outside-in — I mean, that’s a pretty big difference. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I think that’s the type of thing that would take time — years — and the right kind of player that would be able to do all of that. So, I think that would be asking a lot really of almost any player. Now, I mean you could take a guy like Tony Gonzalez, who could play receiver and play tight end. He’s in the Hall of Fame. So, I’m not saying there aren’t guys who can do that, but I wouldn’t say it’s a long list.”
The Patriots will be just fine if they continue using Gordon as a wide receiver. He’s in a deep receiver corps that also includes Julian Edelman, Antonio Brown, Phillip Dorset, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski and possibly eventually N’Keal Harry and Cameron Meredith.
