Josh Gordon: To Trade or not To Trade

Josh Gordon Trade:  Sashi Brown attempted to explain to reporters what I said about Joe Thomas last season, and about Josh Gordon more recently:

Josh Gordon, along with almost every other player on this team, is available for the right price.  They are not calling other teams trying to sell anybody, but when somebody calls them, they don't hang up on them.  This is not complicated.

People manufacture rumors out of estimates by people like me, or "I would" suggestions by former gms, but the one that says that Sashi Brown wanted a second round pick and more for Josh Gordon makes sense.

A few people like the idea of converting Josh into draft picks, and more hate it.  Good cases are being made on both sides of this issue.  Before I  go further, I have some corrections to make:

1: Josh doesn't have the potential to be a "top five, maybe even top three" wide receiver in the NFL.  He has already been the most lethal and productive receiver in the NFL.  With three quarterbacks who rarely started in the NFL since.  In fourteen games.  He has the potential to be as good as he was.  
2: Evidence that he has a "problem" is weak.  His year long suspension came after his season was over, after he and team personnel had drinks on a plane, like everybody else.  He's not a heroine addict or alchoholic.  Stop it.  The PC Police have brainwashed you.
3: He is 26 years old.

Now, the fan in me cringes at the thought of shipping Josh elsewhere.  Probably, Hue Jackson wouldn't like it much either.  There are good reasons (some analytical):

1: The best wide receiver in the NFL is worth a high first round pick and more.  Indeed, many Coaches would call him "priceless".
2: As Joe Haden pointed out, some teams don't have one number one receiver, most don't have two, and the Browns (as of game four) will have three.  (If you don't think Pryor is one, or Coleman won't be one, you need to take off the shit-colored glasses).  This offense could make history.  In 2016!
3: Josh is the default primary.  He will keep Terrelle from setting NFL records and stuff, making him cheaper to extend.
4: If he does screw up again, the REAL risk is the fifty third roster spot.  The 2016 Browns are drowning in wide receivers.
5: In 2017, he can be offered the highest tender.  That's a lowball offer, and the Browns can match any offer; they can let other teams do their negotiating for them.  If it gets too expensive, the team who signs him must cough up their first round pick, in addition to his presumably astronomical salary.

Josh would be looking at playing for (relative) peanuts for another season, or signing a reasonable longer term contact with the Browns, light on guarantees and heavy on incentives.
6: For all my table-pounding about Terrelle Pryor, he indeed lacks the experience at his new position that most rookies show up with.  Gordon is similar to him, and Pryor could learn a lot from watching and talking to him.
Gordon is big and fast, but a defensive back asked to describe him in one word would say "deceptive", or "sneaky".  His moves are smooth and subtle.  It's like he looks right or left, and the cornerback makes the false step he needs to lose him.  It's easy to say Gordon is a dumbass, but a big part of why he's as good as he is is that he is very, very smart.

On the other hand,

1: There is only one football.  Pryor can be like Gordon, even if he never manages to become quite as good.  Coleman is different, but still an almost uncoverable lethal weapon.  While it would be really cool to have Josh as well, that's far less efficient than having a stud right tackle who could someday replace Joe Thomas, or a great cornerback, instead.
2: Josh is walking on egg shells.  He is being required to live like a monk.  He could drink one freaking beer and get suspended again.  (This is rediculous, by the way).  If he cracks an egg, the roster spot is no bigee, but the second and fifth round pick (or whatever) he might have fetched are gone as well.
3: Rodney Pryorfield WILL be a lethal weapon in his own right, and will be very expensive to re-sign.  It's entirely possible that Sashi Brown already talked to his agent about extending, and was rejected.  "Talk to us next year.  Bring your Brinks truck."

In general, the main reason why nobody else has three number ones is that nobody can afford them.  It's almost inevitable that the team will lose one, or even two, of them to higher bidders and the salary cap.

I believe Sashi Brown is doing exactly what I would do.

Most likely, there will be no trade.  Those GMs who want him rightfully question his commitment, and are fearful of another suspension.  One GM said he wouldn't offer more than a sixth round pick for him.

I think this is really pushing it (I would bid up to a fourth or conceivably third), but I get it.  The new team would need to lose his services for the first four games, and try to renegotiate to lock him up for longer than 2017.

I listened to a host on 92.3 who was certain that Gordon's performance vs the Bucs was exactly what Sashi Brown wanted, because, the host thought, Sashi wanted to trade him.

He is wrong.  Sashi Brown (and notably Paul DePodesta) are neutral on this issue.  They have a threshhold at which trading him represents more overall long-term value than retaining him.  Unless and until somebody pays that price, Josh Gordon is a Cleveland Brown.

Taking a 5th round pick for Mingo was a smart and pragmatic move.  The Browns are almost as deep at linebacker (and 4-3 DE) as they are at wide receiver.  Mingo might have been among the final cuts.

Doctor Belichickstein might turn him into a safety for all I know, and I wish Barky luck.

I do have to mention that I read one article that said Mingo was too small for a defensive end, and too slow for a linebacker.  

Well, I was that stupid once.  Still, it's too damn bad editors hire their nephews or beer buddies instead of competant analysts.  Hell, the majority of editors are pretty clueless themselves...

Some guys are pushing hard to trade Josh McCown for literally anything.  He's old, therefore he has to go.

Who would want him? A team with a young quarterback which could use his selfless mentorship, and his proven worth as a starter if need be.

Based on that, what would the Cleveland Browns be willing to give up for...oh yeah, they already have him.  Nevermind.

Who do you think getting rid of Josh would enable the Browns to retain instead?  Austin Davis?  John Doe?

No knock on Davis.  He's a solid veteran quarterback.  But the writer of one trade McCown for a bag of Fritos article pointed out that Kessler was progressing and might be a viable backup by mid season or so.

With McCown guiding him, that might be true.

Sashi Brown might trade Josh McCown, but not for corn chips.  Because frankly, that would be stupid.  He is a leader, a de facto coach (who I hope sticks around on the staff after he retires), and can prevent a not-ready-for-primetime Kessler from crashing and burning.

Josh McCown's ability to run a team is the smallest part of his value to the Cleveland Browns.  His influence will last long after he retires as a player.  If you think "analytics" ignores this, you don't get it.