CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns coach Mike Pettine told cleveland.com Monday that the Browns have no plans to cut troubled receiver Josh Gordon and that they expect him to report for training camp with the rest of the veterans on Friday.
He also said he expects to hear something about Gordon's drug suspension within "the next 10 days to two weeks.'' Gordon is facing an indefinite ban for violating the substance abuse policy for at least the third time. If he loses his upcoming appeal, he'll have to wait a full year before applying for re-instatement with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
"We're expecting him to report on Friday and be on the field,'' Pettine said. "We have no plans to cut him I know there's been a lot of debate over that, but I don't see us having that debate.''
The debate began July 4th weekend when Gordon was arrested for driving while impaired in Raleigh, North Carolina. His blood-alcohol level was .09, over the state's legal limit of .08.
Afterwards, Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter called for the Browns to cut Gordon to try to motivate him to get clean, and fellow Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin sharply rebuked Carter for his remarks, saying the receiver's "ass is out of line.''
Responded Pettine: "I think we need to find the middle ground of what's best for Josh and what's best for the organization. I know Cris Carter came out and said that, but we think you can find that middle ground of what's best for our players and best for the organization. It worked for Cris, but cutting Josh might be the worst thing for him and the worst thing for us.''
Pettine confirmed that the club has reached out to substance abuse professionals to try to help Gordon.
"If any of our players are in need of help, we'll do our best to provide it for them and also that we're going to do what we feel is best for the organization,'' he said. "By league guidelines, whatever help we can provide him, we're going to do it. A Cleveland Brown is a Cleveland Brown. If we feel we can help him, let's help him. Sometimes you're handcuffed by the situation, so until it plays out then there's really nothing tangible we can do at this point.''
Pettine said he hasn't talked to Gordon yet, but will do when he reports on Friday.
"He won't be the only one,'' Pettine said. "I have a list of guys I'll have a state of the union address with.''
Pettine said he doesn't know what the league will decide in terms of Gordon's indefinite or something less severe.
"It all depends on who you talk to,'' he said. "We've all gotten to the point where we have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C.''
Pettine acknowledged that the DWI was a concern with the club.
"Anytime there are multiple things going on and there's a pattern, it's a concern, but at the same time, you need to allow that to play out. You don't want to have a knee-jerk reaction. You've got to cool down a little bit and look at each thing individually. I think we've just settled into a very patient mode of waiting and our plans are laid out and we're just waiting to hear from the league.''
Pettine made no guarantees the Browns will acquire another receiver.
"I don't think you replace Josh, a guy of his caliber,'' Pettine said. "If you just look at what he did last year, he's arguably one of the top three receivers in the league. You can easily make that argument. You're not going to find somebody, so you just have to get creative in how you do it. We feel good about where Miles Austin is health wise, we're very pleased with how Andrew Hawkins came out of camp, and then Nate Burleson will be ready to go and then we have some guys we think will be ready to battle it out.
"Charles Johnson's coming back, he's coming off the ACL, but he's now full-go. We hope to have Travis Benjamin back and ready to go. We might hold him at the beginning but that's more just being cautious than anything. He's almost fully recovered and we'll know a little bit better when he gets his physical.
"So it will definitely be a committee approach and then you can do some things scheme-wise to make up for it. Maybe fewer groupings with multiple receivers. that's where adding a (tight end) Jim Dray and having a veteran like Gary Barnidge helps you. You can use the versatility now of Jordan (Cameron), moving him around a little bit. There's a lot of ways to work around it, knowing 'hey, we're not going to replace that guy but we're going to get creative in how we work around it.'''
Gordon's agent Drew Rosenhaus said Thursday that the appeal hearing is coming up very soon and that he plans to meet with the Browns before camp about how the two sides can work together to best help Gordon.