Gordon draws sympathy from teammate Hawkins, who lost sister to overdose

Head coach Hue Jackson and the Cleveland Browns organization may not have much sympathy for Josh Gordon, but teammate Andrew Hawkins does.

Gordon has decided not to rush back to football after running into some personal issues, entering in-patient rehab instead. Fellow receiver Hawkins lost his sister to a heroin overdose this summer and fully understands Gordon's decision.

"Me, personally, I wasn't stunned,'' Hawkins said of Gordon's decision, according to Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "I had lost a sister this summer to a heroin overdose. She had been clean for two to three years, doing an incredible job. Talked to her regularly, but the one relapse cost her her life.

"It was something I didn't see coming and it kind of opens your eyes up to what addiction is like. It's not a black-and-white situation. It's not cut and dry and it's important for Josh to take this step and try and figure it out. It's a hard road and he understands that. But football isn't important right now."

Jackson said the Browns have moved on from Gordon, who has struggled to deal with substance abuse since 2014, after stating in the summer that "his slate's clean with me".

Hawkins said the loss of his 30-year-old sister Lucia Young was heart-breaking, especially after watching her on the road to recovery.

"It was tough,'' said Hawkins. "There is really no way to describe it. The hardest part is she was doing so good. She was incredible too. She was an incredible person. She was doing everything to help people in her situation, moving forward she had an incredible story and she was using her story to help other people who were dealing with addiction, but it's tough."

Gordon has quickly come under fire with his history of positive drug tests, but Hawkins says people shouldn't be pointing fingers at a victim of addiction.

"For us on the outside we can make the judgment of 'Oh, he should be doing this' but football doesn't protect you from it,'' said Gordon. "Playing against the Washington Redskins won't protect you from it, money at the end of the day won't protect you from it, that's the reality.

"It's important to have compassion for the situation, just pray that things happen where he gets everything under control."