Former NFL receiver Josh Gordon will return to the sport in the startup of the fan-controlled football league as a member of the Zappers, ESPN owner Bob Menery told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.
Gordon will join former NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel on that team’s roster.
The league, which began playing this month, features 7-on-7 games in which fans establish lists, play games and interact in a mix of traditional and esports environments.
Gordon’s career again and again in the NFL got into another hurdle last month as a member of the Seattle Seahawks, when he was suspended indefinitely after the league canceled his conditional reinstatement.
An NFL spokesman then told ESPN that the decision came from Gordon, 29, in violation of the terms of his conditional reinstatement under the law’s substance abuse policy. No other details were provided in the league.
The league suspended Gordon indefinitely in December 2019 for violating its policies on abusive and performance-enhancing substances. This was Gordon’s sixth suspension since the 2013 season and the fifth for a form of substance abuse, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Gordon was conditionally reinstated by the NFL in December and was ready to practice with the Seahawks in the final two weeks of the regular season. Coach Pete Carroll said then that he has the chance to play week 16 against the Los Angeles Rams. But in the same week, the NFL placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list.
Gordon signed a one-year deal with the Seahawks before the start of last season. In 63 NFL games, he has 247 receptions, 4,252 yards and 20 touchdowns. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft, after playing for Utah and Baylor.
FCF teams play a six-week program, with games streamed live on Twitch from a facility rented by an Atlanta league. The games last about an hour, and the field is 50 meters by 35 meters with finishing areas of 10 meters.
Players have averages from FBS and FCS colleges, along with CFL, XFL and Indoor Football League, including Manziel.
Prior to FCF, 28-year-old Manziel last played football in April 2019 for the American Football Alliance and has also played in the Spring League and CFL since the Browns released him in 2015. Manziel and Gordon were teammates in Cleveland.