Josh Gordon may do big things in his return to the Browns. Just probably not in 2017

Josh Gordon’s last appearance with the Cleveland Browns was on Dec. 21, 2014 when he caught four passes for 45 yards. On Sunday — 1,078 days since that game — Gordon will make his return as a starter for Cleveland against the Los Angeles Chargers.

It’s an exciting moment for the Browns in an 0-11 season that hasn’t provided many reasons for positivity. But should the team or its fans expect Gordon to ever replicate the way he played in 2013, when he finished with a league-leading 1,646 receiving yards and nine touchdowns?

Gordon already had one comeback from a 10-game suspension in 2014, and was mostly ineffective in five games.

“He wasn’t ready,” Browns left tackle Joe Thomas said Wednesday on 92.3 The Fan about that Gordon comeback, via Cleveland.com. “He didn’t know the route concepts, he didn’t understand where he fit in the offense and we almost lost the game, I’m not going to say because of him, but I think there were two or three picks where the ball was thrown in the right spot but Josh didn’t make the right read.”

The Browns will hope that Gordon is able to be more useful this time around, despite his lengthy time away from the field. Other players have returned from absences, but a comeback after nearly three years is a different story.

In the last couple of decades, there are really only two comparable situations in terms of length away from the game. Michael Vick returned after nearly two years in prison due to dogfighting and Deion Sanders staged a comeback after three years of retirement.

Their time away from the field wasn’t due to injury and both went more than 1,000 days between NFL games. The most encouraging thing for Browns fans is that neither Vick nor Sanders looked out of place in their respective returns.

Sanders wasn’t quite his Hall of Fame self in two seasons with the Ravens, but was still a solid contributor in his late 30s. And Vick played arguably the best season of his career in 2010 with the Philadelphia Eagles, his second season after coming back.

At age 26, Gordon is far from over the hill and can follow in the footsteps of Vick and Sanders.

The difference is that Vick and Sanders both had plenty of time to prepare for their return to the field, because they had an offseason to get ready for a Week 1 debut. Gordon will play less than two weeks after his first practice back with the Browns.

That isn’t even his only hurdle either.

In November, Gordon revealed the extent of his addiction problems, which included using drugs and alcohol before games. His recent time away from the NFL was due to an indefinite suspension following his fourth violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

Another violation would likely mean the end of his NFL career.

“You’re definitely seeing the commitment from Josh right now in the facility, but I do agree that he’s going to have some bumps in the road coming back,” Thomas said on 92.3 The Fan. “I’m not an addiction specialist. I don’t really understand his side of things too well, but I know that when you’re in a controlled environment, when you’re around other addicts and you’re in those meetings, and those programs, it’s powerful to be around those people because it’s uplifting and they’re fighting the same fight you are.

“You take that player that has this big history of addiction and you put him in a locker room with a bunch of 20-year-olds and early 30-year-olds, let’s be honest, pro football players like to party, they like to go out and drink and that’s powerful and it’s difficult and it’s going to take a lot of self-control and discipline on Josh’s part to not slide back into that lifestyle.”

If Gordon can avoid those pitfalls, there’s reason to be optimistic about his chances of success for the remainder of his career.

Jumping right into an offense that’s last in the NFL in scoring and putting up huge stats in the final weeks of 2017 probably isn’t a realistic expectation for Gordon. He was conditionally reinstated on Nov. 1 and got back on the practice field for the first time on Nov. 22.

The Browns don’t sound like they’ll ease him back into the offense slowly, so it probably won’t be for a lack of opportunity:

But the Cleveland offense is far from one receiver away from functionality. The offensive line is without Thomas for the rest of the season, and quarterback DeShone Kizer has struggled badly in his rookie NFL season.

In 10 starts, Kizer has 14 interceptions to just five touchdowns in a nightmarish beginning to his career. It certainly hasn’t helped that his top receiving threat through 11 games has been running back Duke Johnson, who leads the team in receptions and receiving yards. After that it’s a hodgepodge of Ricardo Louis, Corey Coleman, Kenny Britt, and tight ends Seth Devalve and David Njoku.

The lack of legitimate receiving threats is the reason why Gordon has a chance to contribute at all after three years away. Gordon may help, but the Browns aren’t going to magically become a prolific offense with a dangerous aerial attack in December.

Gordon is set to become a restricted free agent after the 2018 season, meaning it’s up to the Browns for now to decide if the receiver will be a part of the team moving forward.

The future is what’s really important for the Browns and it would be a huge boost for the team if Gordon shows he’s a player who can be an integral part of it. And that alone is exciting for Cleveland.