Cleveland Browns WR Josh Gordon will be back for Fantasy Football owners this season after the new drug agreement was reached and he is a smart pickup for any league that saw his owners drop him following his suspension and in the meantime, names like Miles Austin, Travis Benjamin and Andrew Hawkins are solid start picks for the coming weeks until he returns along with an injured Ben Tate.
Gordon has had his suspension reduced and now he can start working out again with the team after the NFL rectified its terrible policy. The Browns are 1-1 on the season and Andrew Hawkins, Miles Austin, Travis Benjamin and Brian Hoyer have been doing a good job in the offense without Brown. Hawkins had the biggest play of the week for the Browns with his wide open catch to set up the winning field goal against the Saints and for fantasy owners he is the best option of the receivers out there stepping in for Gordon.
Hawkins has been the best option so far stepping in for Gordon and he is leading the wideouts with yards and catches with 14 receptions for 157 yards in two games. Hoyer has found a nice target in Hawkins and his size allows him to get into open spaces and he has the speed to be explosive. Gordon is a burner and no one on this team is as fast as him, but Hawkins has shown he can handle being a number one. Last season he played in just eight games, but the year before Hawkins showed his potential with 51 catches for 533 yards and four touchdowns with the Bengals.
Travis Benjamin has just three catches for 26 yards, but he has added a touchdown and while he is not as good of an option as Austin or Hawkins, he could be a solid pick in deeper leagues. Miles Austin has the potential to be a good WR3 option in leagues after getting signed this summer and he has eight catches for 64 yards and a TD this season already.
Last season Gordon was as explosive as anyone in the league and in fantasy football and he ended up leading the NFL in receiving yards while setting career highs across the board. More amazing was the fact that Gordon did it in 14 games and now he will get the chance to come back near the end of the season. Gordon was great last season with 1646 yards and 87 catches and he also had nine touchdowns and that totally beat out his previous year when he was a rookie. Gordon nearly doubled his numbers overall with 50 catches, 805 yards and five scores from the season before and moving forward he should be considered a strong start option once he is active, even with the long layoff.
The Browns are 1-1 on the season and depending on how things play out, Gordon could be coming back at a crazy time if the team hangs in the playoff race. Gordon is game changing player and if he gets back on the field and shakes the rust off quickly, he could be very valuable for the Browns and for fantasy football owners as well.