Having been reinstated last September from his sixth league-issued suspension, wide receiver Josh Gordon joined the Kansas City Chiefs’ 53-man roster in early October. He appeared in 12 games with seven starts but he didn’t muster much production, with just five catches on 14 targets for 32 yards and one touchdown. After he spent two games as a healthy scratch, the team waived Gordon during the playoffs.
After that type of end to the year, it feels like it would be tough to have any big expectations for Gordon. That’s not the case for Chiefs wide receivers coach Joe Bleymaier, though. He has a great deal of confidence that this offseason has allowed Gordon to turn the corner.
“I have big expectations for Josh,” Bleymaier said. “Like you said, the offseason here, when he got here it was just (doing) as much as we could do to get him on the field and having him knowing his assignments. He is extremely smart and intelligent and he knew he tackled all of those challenges and he did what we needed last year. Now he can kind of understand (the) why, get on the same page with Pat (Mahomes), understand the timing and how he fits in with everybody else. Not only the reps, but the depth and the feel and him getting his stride back, realizing where he was when he was at the top of his game — how he was doing that. That’s really where I’ve seen him come this spring.”
One of the many concerns stemming from the 2021 season was Gordon’s ability to pick up the playbook. Andy Reid’s scheme has the reputation of being notoriously tough for receivers to learn — and learning it on the fly, during the season, seemed exceptionally difficult.
Bleymaier, however, refuted any notion that Gordon struggled with the playbook. Instead, he felt that it was just a matter of Gordon getting comfortable within the offense.
“Yeah, he’s always been comfortable with the playbook,” Bleymaier explained. “I would say he’s more comfortable with himself in the role, in the offense, in what we’re asking him to do and then how he can do it. Last year, he was just so focused on what we were asking him to do. He was just, not neglecting what got him to this point, but now he’s just kind of bringing it all full picture.”
Bleymaier seems quite confident that this fuller view will allow Gordon to have much better success this offseason. Even with the receiver group as competitive as ever, it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility for Gordon to push for a roster spot.
