Browns VP: We're not in position to turn away WR like Josh Gordon

As Josh Gordon approaches a potential date for reinstatement, the consensus belief has been that the Cleveland Browns would immediately look to part ways with him.

Head coach Hue Jackson said after Gordon's latest setback in relation to the NFL's drug policy that the team was "moving on," and Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported last week that Gordon would likely be traded or released.

However, Sashi Brown, Cleveland's executive vice president of football operations, doesn't exactly seem set on cutting ties.

"Listen, assuming he would play at the level we started to see glimpses of last preseason and certainly in the league before, (Gordon) would be a talent I think no team in the NFL would turn down if he got back in," Brown said, according to Tony Grossi of ESPN. "Our decision with Josh is just understanding where he is in this process and being able to have him. We're not in position at wide receiver to turn down a guy like Josh if we feel he's settled himself. Josh is going to have an opportunity to reapply to the NFL and at that time we'll make a decision when we know what's going on."

Accounting for the gamesmanship that goes into every team's offseason strategy, keeping the door open for a return could conceivably be the Browns' way of creating a trade market for Gordon's services.

But there's certainly also value in seeing things through with a young and supremely talented wide receiver.

After losing their top playmaker when Terrelle Pryor bolted for the Washington Redskins in free agency, Gordon's potential to bolster the passing game likely becomes all the more intriguing for the Browns.

While there's still some risk involved, and it's tough to predict how effective he would be in his first potential regular-season action since 2014, the upside is undeniable.

Gordon, who will still only be turning 26 in April, had emerged as one of the league's most dominant pass-catchers before a series of drug-related suspensions.

Despite missing two games, the former supplemental draft pick finished the 2013 campaign with 87 receptions, a league-high 1,646 receiving yards, and nine touchdowns.