In a statement that is either a lie, or tells you how out of the loop the Browns were with Josh Gordon — Joe Haden said neither he nor his Browns teammates knew Josh Gordon was not permitted to drink when the wide receiver joined a group of players and one former assistant coach on a postseason trip to Las Vegas.
“Listen, everybody is 21 years old. We’re going to Vegas on a vacation. We know we can’t do certain things, but we we had no idea [Gordon] couldn’t have a drink. If I knew he couldn’t have a drink, everybody would have tried to … you know what I’m saying … it wouldn’t have been that.”
In Haden’s and everyone elses defense — if Josh Gordon knew he couldn’t drink, then he should have warned his teammates and abstained from alcohol.
Gordon admitted in an open letter on Medium in January that his yearlong suspension for the 2015 season happened because he drank on the private plane; he wrote that he was tested shortly after the plane landed.
“Nobody was aware that he couldn’t drink,” Haden said emphatically Tuesday, speaking on the second day of the Browns’ offseason workouts.
According to Gordon — part of his confidential agreement with the NFL that allowed him to play the final six games of the 2014 season was not to drink.