Perception is everything when it comes to player character concerns.
Brandon Marshall’s domestic violence history is well-documented, a rap sheet which consists of eight separate incidents, albeit with no convictions. Yet you rarely hear him mentioned among the most troubled players in the league. Yes, since many of these incidents, he has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but he has still been involved in one altercation since his diagnosis, an incident involving an alleged assault of a woman at a Manhattan night club.
No charges were filed, nor is there any evidence that Marshall was guilty of any wrongdoing, but players have been crucified for less, especially those with extensive rap sheets.
Despite his history, most NFL fans perceive Brandon Marshall positively. His appearances on Showtime’s Inside the NFL help that. So does his persona as a man who has overcome a mental illness. He hasn’t shied away from his past. Rather, he has used his fame as a platform to advocate for mental health awareness. He appears to be a changed man, one willing to use his experience to help those who struggle with it every day.
Still, with all of the domestic violence issues of his past, you would expect at least a remnant of condemnation toward him. The lack of outrage is partially due to the timing of Marshall’s incidents. His transgressions occurred before the image of Ray Rice in an Atlantic City elevator or the bruises on Greg Hardy’s ex-girlfriend’s body had been embedded into our minds.
Attributing the changed perception of Brandon Marshall to just timing, however, would be ignoring the evidence that he is actually a different person. He is now a man who hasn’t been involved in an off-the-field incident of any merit since he began treatment for his personality disorder.
You would hope NFL fans and media would be willing to consider Brandon Marshall’s redemption story and apply it to far less serious offenses.
Like the ones perpetrated by Browns WR Josh Gordon.
Rumors have circulated after Gordon’s “liked” a number of posts on Twitter connecting him to the New York Giants. The feeling out of Cleveland (i.e. one tweet by one Cleveland reporter), is that the Browns will hold onto him, but it is anything but guaranteed. With a change in regime that doesn’t want to keep Johnny Manziel around, a player with character concerns like Gordon could be on his way out.
The perception of Gordon is that he is a loser, an idiot incapable of making smart decisions. In a league rampant with marijuana use, Gordon has become the poster child for athletes with a substance problem. He is the fall guy – although he makes it quite easy – of the NFL’s PR machine. The league publicly states that they don’t tolerate drug use of any kind, but privately they make it easy to clear their infrequent, predictable drug tests.
Gordon has made it difficult for the NFL to ignore his substance use. Most NFL players who smoke weed can manage to keep themselves out of trouble with the league – and more importantly, out of the public eye. But Gordon has not managed the testing schedule properly. He has repeatedly found himself in heaps of substance policy problems and has been suspended three times, including a year-long suspension in 2015 and a suspension which allowed him to play just five games in 2014. He is now in Stage 3 of the NFL substance abuse intervention program, where he will stay indefinitely.
Zero tolerance will probably be the standard for the rest of his career, and clearing the NFL substance testing will never be as easy for him as it is for most NFL players.
Knowing that, with what level of risk will teams be comfortable? Â Will they take a chance on a player who could face another lengthy suspension if he tests positive for any substance, including alcohol?
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For a player of Gordon’s caliber, the potential reward is worth up to the risk of a 4th round pick, and the Ravens should make an effort to acquire him. The Browns may not want to trade with a division rival, but Baltimore can offer a pick better than most teams. With what will become 10 picks this year after the compensatory picks are awarded, they can offer up their first 4th round pick and still have plenty of opportunities to fill their roster holes later in the draft.
Gordon, for one season, was undisputedly one of the five best receivers in the league. He had 87 receptions for 1646 yards and nine touchdowns. Half of his 14 games resulted in 100-yard performances, including two 200+ yard performances. At the end of the season, he was the NFL leader in receiving yards by over 1,000 and in receiving yards per game by 11.
Even a quality 4th round pick may never produce like that in their career, much less in just one season.
That season – 2013 – he was just 22 years old. Since then, he has played just five games, at the end of 2014, and was suspended for the final game of the season for missing a walk-through. Conveniently enough, that suspension delayed Gordon’s free agency, and the Browns are able to control him for another year.
By giving up a pick for Gordon, you risk him getting into trouble again, but the chances of a 4th round pick busting and never amounting to much at all are comparable to Gordon being a complete bust of an acquisition.
The Ravens have been moderately successful in the 4th round lately. Since 2011, they have found successful picks like Javorius Allen (2015), Za’Darius Smith (2015), and Kyle Juszczyk (2013), injury-limited contributions from players like Brent Urban (2014) and Lorenzo Taliaferro (2014), and completely unproductive selections like Christian Thompson (2012), John Simon (2013 – more on this one here), and Tray Walker (2015).
Isn’t the upside of a player like Josh Gordon worth more than the reward of selecting any of those players?
During his extensive time off the playing field and out of the practice facility, Gordon could have fallen completely off the NFL landscape, like Jaguars WR-in-limbo Justin Blackmon. He could have tested positive in any of the many, many substance tests he surely took since January of last season when he was suspended. He could have been out posting videos of himself chugging champagne straight from the bottle like a certain irresponsible quarterback whose future in Cleveland is in doubt.
He had a whole year to get himself in trouble, a time during which he had very little to occupy himself besides his job selling cars.
But he didn’t.
This sounds like the beginning of a great redemption story, a story which seems much more promising than the story of your average 4th rounder. If the price is right, the Ravens shouldn’t hesitate to take the leap.
