Josh Gordon, one of the most naturally gifted receivers of the last several years, could hit the open market in a few weeks. If the New England Patriots are soon to release the WR as is being reported, should the Dallas Cowboys have interest in adding him for the remainder of 2019?
Gordon is currently on injured reserve for New England but is expected to be healthy enough to return in a few weeks. After trading Mohamed Sanu earlier this week, New England appears to have already replaced Gordon and are expected to cut him once he can pass a physical.
With the NFL trade deadline coming this Tuesday, even veterans like Josh Gordon are subject to the waiver system. If he was cut this week, Josh would automatically be a free agent and could pick his next team. But by the time he’s released, Gordon will have to go through waivers.
In 17 games for New England over the last two years, Gordon has amassed 60 catches for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns. He’s still just 28 and has rare ability, and at least so far this year has avoided any of his chronic issues that have resulted in past suspensions.
The Dallas Cowboys, currently 4-3, would likely be behind at least half the league in wavier priority. And given Gordon’s modest $2 million base salary, plenty of teams should be willing to pay that to acquire his services.
But let’s just pretend that Gordon could actually fall to the Cowboys if they put in a claim. Is it even worth it for them to add Josh given their current WR talent?
The Cowboys are arguably “stacked” right now at WR when everyone’s healthy. The starting trio of Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and Randall Cobb are one of the best groups in the NFL. They even have solid depth with Tavon Austin, Devin Smith, and Cedrick Wilson all contributing at times this year.
That said, all of our top receivers have already had to miss some time this season with injuries. Cooper was out for nearly all of Dallas’ loss to the Jets but did manage to return the following week. Gallup and Cobb have also missed a game or two each with their own health issues.
While we certainly hope that everyone comes back healthy after the bye week and stays that way the rest of the year, the likelihood is that at least one of these three players will wind up re-aggravating an injury or suffering a new one. At that point, having a talent like Josh Gordon on hand would be a significant upgrade from any of the current depth options.
Another reason for Dallas to try and snag Gordon is to deal preventative blow to the Philadelphia Eagles. Their division rival is desperate for receiver help and could be one of the foremost pursuers of Gordon should he become available.
With one of the top-five passing offenses in the league right now, the Cowboys have plenty of targets to go around. Gordon’s good enough to help them immediately and would be a fantastic insurance policy if any bad things happen elsewhere on the WR depth chart.
So yes, Dallas should absolutely put in a claim on Josh Gordon when the time comes. He’s worth way more than any potential cost.
Unfortunately, the Eagles or some other team are likely to jump ahead of the Cowboys in waiver priority and pick him up.
