Former NFL wide receiver Josh Gordon will return to the sport in the starting 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 full-back Johnny Manziel.
The league, which kicks off this month, features 7-on-7 matches where fans set schedules, call plays and interact in a mix of traditional and esports environments.
Gordon’s up-and-coming NFL career got another roadblock as a member of the Seattle Seahawks last month, when he was suspended indefinitely after the league revoked his conditional resettlement.
An NFL spokesman at the time told ESPN that the decision stemmed from Gordon, 29, violating the terms of his conditional resettlement under the league’s drug abuse policy. No other details were provided from the league.
The league suspended Gordon for an indefinite period in December 2019 for violating its substance abuse and performance-enhancing policies. It was Gordon’s sixth suspension since the 2013 season and his fifth for some form of drug abuse, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Gordon was conditionally reinstated by the NFL in December and would train with the Seahawks in the final two weeks of the regular season. Coach Pete Carroll said at the time he had the chance to play Week 16 against the Los Angeles Rams. But that same week, the NFL put him on the commissioner’s released list.
Gordon signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks before the previous season began. 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 Supplemental Draft, after playing in Utah and Baylor.
FCF teams play a six-week schedule, with matches hosted live on Twitch from a league-rented facility in Atlanta. The matches last about an hour, and the field is 50 for 35 meters with end sites of 10 meters.
Players have backgrounds from the FBS and FCS college level, along with the CFL, XFL and the Indoor Football League, Manziel among them.
Before FCF, Manziel (28), last played football for the Alliance of American Football in April 2019, he has also played in The Spring League and the CFL since the Browns released him in 2015. Manziel and Gordon were teammates in Cleveland.