After a rocky start to the 2021 season, K.C. Chiefs fans should take stock and avoid pressing the panic button. There is a heck of a lot of football left to be played and when healthy and motivated, the Chiefs have proven in recent years that they are still the most dangerous team in the league. Though the Chiefs aren’t currently playing their best football the team is still loaded up with offensive weapons for quarterback Patrick Mahomes—and he may have just collected his last infinity stone in wide receiver Josh Gordon.
Reported by Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter via Twitter on Monday following the tough loss to the Chargers, it was announced that the recently reinstated pass catcher Josh Gordon is signing with Kansas City. Fans across the NFL are all-too-familiar with Gordon’s off-the-field antics, yet it is undeniable that while playing, Gordon is an electric player who improves the receiving core of any team he joins—and there have been several. The Chiefs are no exception to this claim as it seems the rich just keep getting richer.
A glance at Josh Gordon’s past receiving numbers.
Gordon first joined the league in 2012 through being picked up by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Supplemental Draft. It didn’t take long before he made an impact in Cleveland by tallying up 50 receptions and 805 receiving yards in only his rookie year. He also hauled in 5 touchdowns and obtained an impressive 16.1 yards per reception. Not too shabby for a rookie on a team that struggled to find success.
Sadly, Gordon’s sophomore season is where he first got in trouble for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, causing him to be suspended for the first two games of the season. However, 2013 was also the year in which he truly exploded as a receiving threat, tallying up the best numbers of his career. He caught 87 passes and more than doubled his receiving yards to the tune of 1,646. In addition to his personal best receiving yards Gordon also accounted for his career best yards per game, a crazy 117.6. Additionally, “The Flash” caught a whopping 9 touchdowns and saw his yards per reception increase to a lofty 18.9.
In 2014, Gordon only played in five games before facing another suspension, this time for two years. When he returned to the Browns in 2017, he found few opportunities to shine and only played five games once again. Over this four-year 10-game stretch Gordon’s numbers unsurprisingly fell while dealing with his litany of issues, tallying up only 638 yards. Despite this tumultuous era however, Gordon still was able to produce a solid 15.6 yards per reception.
In 2018, Josh Gordon found himself in a new environment with a new team. After only playing with Cleveland for a single game he was traded to the New England Patriots in September. Gordon started in 11 games for the Patriots and his numbers made a bit of a resurgence. He caught 68 passes for 720 yards, accounting for 18 yards per reception and 65.5 yards per game.
The Belichick-Gordon duo didn’t last long however, as 2019 was the talented yet troubled receiver’s last year in New England. He only played six games for the Patriots while receiving 287 yards (47.8 per game) with 14.4 yards per reception. His departure came in October when he was placed on IR due to a knee injury which eventually led to his release only 8 days later.
Less than 24 hours after his release however, the productive pass catcher joined the Seattle Seahawks. Though ultimately Gordon was suspended later in the year one again he managed to play five games in Seattle while only earning the starting role once. He only racked up seven grabs during this short stint, but managed to turn these catches into 139 yards.
It’s not sadly no secret that Gordon has failed to cash in on his immense talent and multiple opportunities, but despite his shortcomings, he still is very much a threat to any defense. If you consider that Gordon had only played in 63 total games with each season being comprised of 16 games, he has only really played for about four full seasons. He’s tallied up 4,252 receiving yards over his career. See where this might be heading? One could make the argument that if you added all of his games and yards together he has put up four 1,000-yard seasons. He has also commands a noteworthy 17.2 yards per reception over his long career.
When Gordon is on the field he is productive, plain and simple. The numbers don’t lie. Next, let’s look at what this means for the Chiefs?
What do Gordon’s past receiving numbers mean for the Chiefs?
The Chiefs, obviously, aren’t in need of a leading pass catcher. Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are and always have been Mahomes’ bread and butter. However, the remaining cast in Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle have yet to cement themselves as the evident third choice (at least thus far in the season). Though it’s far easier said than done the defensive strategy for any team facing Mahomes and company seems to be based around slowing down Kelce and Hill as much as possible.
Josh Gordon could very well be the antidote to this issue. Though he his 30 years old, he has shown a knack for getting the separation needed to gain targets. Defenders always seem to have their hands full with “Zeus” and “The Cheetah”, which should allow Gordon with opportunities to be the long-awaited third option. Mahomes is about to have a field day. This leads to another point: during Gordon’s best career year in 2013, who was the QB dishing out the rock to him?
Trick question. The 2013 Browns actually saw three different quarterbacks start for them. Jason Campbell started for eight games, Brandon Weeden started for five games and Brian Hoyer started for three games. Their QBRs were, respectively, 43.3, 34.4 and 51.1. But what’s the point? If Gordon saw his best numbers with these less than effective quarterbacks throwing to him, imagine what Mahomes will be able to do for his numbers.
Of course no one should expect Gordon to reach this level of production. He won’t be asked to act as the first or even second option for Mahomes. He will however pose a problem for opposing defenses whose game plan is spent harassing Kelce and Hill. In addition to helping the offense function in general, he could also prove to be a potent threat in the red zone. Standing at 6’3″, he may just be that extra juice needed get the ball into the end zone.
Ultimately, this pick-up by the Chiefs front office is a low-risk, high-reward move that makes sense for both sides. The Chiefs could always use a little extra firepower, especially after their rough start to the season. On the other hand, Josh Gordon could finally put his past behind him and once again prove to be a dangerous receiving threat. Heck, he might even earn himself his first ring in the process.