Struggling wide receiver Josh Gordon joins Johnny Manziel on Atlanta-based startup league squad, owner says

Former NFL wide receiver Josh Gordon will return to the sport in the fan-controlled football league as a member of the Zappers, team owner Bob Menery told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.

Gordon will join former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel on that team’s roster.

The league, which started playing this month, features 7v7 matches where fans make rosters, make calls and interact in a mix of traditional and esports environments.

Gordon’s continued NFL career ran into another roadblock last month as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, when he was suspended indefinitely after the league quashed his conditional reinstatement.

An NFL spokesperson told ESPN at the time that the decision stemmed from the fact that Gordon, 29, had violated the terms of his conditional reinstatement under the league’s drug addiction policy. No further details were provided by the league.

The league suspended Gordon indefinitely in December 2019 for violations of its policies on substance abuse and performance enhancing substances. This was Gordon’s sixth suspension since the 2013 season and his fifth for some form of drug addiction, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

Gordon was conditionally reinstated by the NFL in December and was scheduled to train with the Seahawks for the final two weeks of the regular season. Coach Pete Carroll said at the time he got the chance to play Week 16 against the Los Angeles Rams. But that same week, the NFL placed him on the commissioner’s exemption list.

Gordon signed a one-year contract with the Seahawks before the start of last season. In 63 NFL games, he has 247 receptions, 4,252 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2012 NFL Extra Draft, after playing for Utah and Baylor.

CWF teams play a six-week schedule, with matches broadcast live on Twitch from a league-rented facility in Atlanta. The matches last around an hour and the pitch measures 50 by 35 meters with end zones of 10 meters.

The players have backgrounds at the college level FBS and FCS, as well as the CFL, XFL and Indoor Football League, Manziel among them.

Prior to the CLF, Manziel, 28, last played football in April 2019 for the Alliance of American Football and has also played in the Spring League and CFL since the Browns released him in 2015. Manziel and Gordon were teammates in Cleveland.