[UPDATE] It has been confirmed that Brady and Gordon worked out together earlier this week. According to ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss, the workout took place on Tuesday.
[ORIGINAL STORY] The New England Patriots are currently enjoying their summer break, but it appears as if quarterback Tom Brady is taking the ‘no days off’ mantra quite literally — at least when judged by a recent Instagram post of his. The post itself, capped by the phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ would in itself not be particularly noteworthy: you see Brady throwing a football. The person catching the pass, however, deserves to be taken a closer look at.
Here’s the post showing the future Hall of Fame quarterback and the mystery pass catcher:
We don’t know any specifics about the clip — it was posted earlier today along a series of stories that all appear to be quite recent — but it certainly looks as if Brady is working out alongside Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon. To be fair, we don’t see the receiver’s face in the post but there is evidence that it is indeed the 28-year-old:
1.) Gordon, albeit suspended, is a member of the Patriots.
2.) Brady is regularly working out with New England’s receivers in private sessions.
3.) The pass catcher in the video is wearing a hat similar to one of Gordon’s.
Could it be Gordon? Respected NFL reporters such as ESPN’s Field Yates and NFL Network’s Mike Giardi believe it is, and the evidence seems to support it. The man in question, of course, is currently serving an indefinite suspension for violating the terms of his reinstatement under the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Since he was placed on the NFL’s reserve/suspended list in December 2018, Gordon has flown under the radar a bit — and reports about him have been scarce.
This post would put him back on the map a bit, three months after the Patriots tendered the restricted free agent at the original-round level. Gordon’s future in the NFL remains muddy, though, as there have been no reports about a reinstatement process being underway. The expectation is that the wideout, who was acquired by the Patriots via trade early in the 2018 season, will eventually return but no timeline is available at this point.
Gordon, of course, was a key cog in the Patriots’ offensive machinery last year: over his eleven games in New England, he was on the field for 71.2% of the team’s offensive snaps — serving as the de facto third receiving weapon behind Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. In this role, Gordon caught 40 passes for 720 yards and three touchdowns between his arrival in mid-September and his departure on December 20.