Andrew Hawkins

Nearly four months after the NFL proposed a one-year suspension for Browns receiver Josh Gordon, a decision has been reached on his appeal.

Per a league source, hearing officer Harold Henderson has upheld the one-year suspension.

It means that Gordon will be banished from the team and the league for a full calendar year. He’ll be eligible for reinstatement as of August 27, 2015, only days before the start of the 2015 regular season.

There were unsourced reports (from the Browns blog Dawg Pound Nation) that Gordon’s camp was planning to sue the NFL if his suspension was upheld, so we would wait for the dust to settle before dropping him. There is a big movement to cut Gordon at this point, but we don’t see the benefit of rushing to do so. We recommend playing the waiting game a while longer and see what Gordon’s camp does next (if anything). A potential injunction may allow Gordon to play in 2014. If he’s out, the entire Browns offense takes a hit, save for Jordan Cameron, who should see a ton of targets, and possibly Ben Tate, if the team elects to go run-heavy. Miles Austin and Andrew Hawkins likely see the bulk of the targets at wide receiver.