The Flash is back. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN has confirmed that Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Josh Gordon has been officially reinstated by the NFL and will resume his career. Josh Gordon’s return to the Seahawks has potentially massive implications, not just for the Seattle Seahawks themselves, but also for fantasy football team owners across the nation.
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Seahawks WR Josh Gordon reinstated after months of waiting
The NFL has suspended Gordon five times throughout his NFL career for similar issues related to violating the league policy on performance-enhancing drugs and substances of abuse. Most recently, the NFL suspended Gordon indefinitely last December, after playing five games with the Seattle Seahawks.
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As a free agent, Gordon re-signed with the Seahawks amidst his ongoing suspension and first applied for reinstatement in mid-June. Gordon’s suspension lasted into the season, and the NFL notably reinstated Antonio Brown of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before Gordon. But the Gordon suspension is now over as well, and while questions remain regarding his long-term outlook, the focus is now on his viability as a weapon for the Seahawks in the latter stages of the 2020 season.
What is Josh Gordon’s availability as a fantasy threat?
Now that Gordon has been officially reinstated, he can return to the Seahawks’ facilities as soon as he passes through team protocols. At that time, he can begin the process of rekindling his chemistry with the Seahawks’ offense, most notably quarterback Russell Wilson.
With that being said, Gordon will not be able to hit the field in a Seahawks’ uniform for three more weeks; while the NFL’s intent to reinstate Gordon has been made public, Gordon’s actual reinstatement won’t occur until the Monday after Week 15. This means that Gordon can only be active for Week 16 and Week 17 in the 2020 season and will consequently only be available for the final week of the fantasy football playoffs for many.
Can Josh Gordon help you win your fantasy football league?
Josh Gordon won’t be on your starting lineup, or the Seahawks starting lineup, until Week 16 at the earliest, but is it a good idea to stash him until then, as a not-so-secret weapon for the playoffs?
It’s tough to project Gordon’s impact for the Seahawks down the stretch. Last year, Gordon played five games for the Seahawks, and in those games, he only caught seven passes for 139 yards while exceeding 50% of the team’s offensive snaps only once. He averaged just over two targets a game in that stretch, and while he did enough to earn another contract from Seattle, he didn’t sell many on his ability to be a consistent threat.
This time around, Gordon will have another chance to earn a greater target share, but the circumstances are different in 2020. While he won’t have to contend with Phillip Dorsett for snaps — Dorsett has been on injured reserve since the start of the season with a foot injury — he will have to contend with a more-established DK Metcalf and an ever-consistent Tyler Lockett.
The situational factors surrounding Gordon’s return in 2020
Both Metcalf and Lockett are easily on pace to eclipse their target numbers from 2019 and have established themselves as a reliable one-two punch for Russell Wilson. Metcalf is embarking on a defining campaign as a transcendent WR1 giving off shades of Calvin Johnson, while Lockett has complimented Metcalf well, already with 70 catches through 11 games.
Josh Gordon likely isn’t going to siphon much work from Metcalf and Lockett in such a short span, but he can work toward taking reps from David Moore, the team’s third wide receiver. Moore has been a surprisingly consistent part of the Seahawks’ offense, logging at least three targets in all but two games so far this season, and he’s already matched his career-high touchdown total.
While Moore has been solid, Gordon is a clearly superior talent who should be fresh after another extended absence. Gordon can’t match the volume of Metcalf and Lockett, but if he can take some of Moore’s touchdown production, it would be a good start.
Gordon faces tough matchups when he returns to the field in Week 16 and 17
Unfortunately for Gordon, the opposition faced in his two games in 2020 will not be ideal. In Week 16, the Seattle Seahawks take on the Los Angeles Rams, who have allowed the fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers among NFL teams this season. Back in November, the Rams’ defense held Russell Wilson to under 250 yards passing and logged two interceptions, and that pressure will no doubt be heightened in Week 16, as these two teams presumably fight for NFL playoff real estate.
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In Week 17, Seattle gets a slight respite, but only that, as they’ll take on the San Francisco 49ers, a defense that has allowed the 10th-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers. The 49ers game will be somewhat circumstantial; if Seattle wins in Week 16 in Los Angeles, one can assume they’ve likely locked up the NFC West, and at that point, they might cede more opportunities to a player like Gordon while keeping Metcalf and Lockett injury-free for the playoffs. However, for many leagues, Week 17 is too late to impact the outcome of fantasy championships.
Gordon’s 2020 fantasy playoffs outlook
The context doesn’t bring a ringing endorsement for Josh Gordon, but sometimes it’s important not to be frozen by analysis paralysis. Gordon will have a tough time earning an increased role right from the start, and he will have challenging opposition on the other side of the ball, but let’s not forget who Gordon is. He’s a 6-foot-3, 225-pound receiver with 4.5 speed, excellent explosiveness, and big-play aptitude wherever he ends up. While he only caught seven passes last season, he averaged almost 20 yards per catch, and that boom-or-bust nature is something you may be inclined to bank on in the fantasy playoffs.
Josh Gordon is far from a certainty, and it would be advisable to have other options available across your fantasy football roster. But at this point in the season, injuries have a way of thinning out those options. At the very least, teams may not be adequately prepared for Gordon. With enough attention already being diverted to Metcalf and Lockett, Gordon could be in a situation that frees him up to make plays in late December. It’s all speculative, but Gordon does have the physical capabilities to transcend the context and produce. Now, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to take that chance.
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