According to Cleveland.com, the Browns are preparing to be without star WR Josh Gordon for at least eight games.
Gordon's appeal hearing wrapped up Monday, and now the team waits one to three weeks for commissioner Roger Goodell to issue the NFL's decision. If Gordon wins his appeal, the suspension goes away, but being denied means he'll miss at least the 2014 season.
The ideal outcome for both parties, though, is a negotiated settlement that lands somewhere in the middle. Gordon claims that his failed marijuana test was the result of secondhand smoke, but the Browns are reportedly not optimistic that the NFL will take that argument seriously.
Cleveland, unwilling to risk the indefinite loss of arguably their best offensive weapon, are aiming at a negotiated eight-game ban that would see Gordon return by early November. Coach Mike Pettine has been impressed with Gordon's work in practice so far, and the team wants to make sure he's available for as much of this year as possible.
Browns legend Jim Brown addressed Gordon's impending suspension in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer on Tuesday afternoon, telling the paper that the star WR "needs to get his life together".
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