BEREA, Ohio _ Pro Bowl receiver Josh Gordon has gotten every break from the league and the Browns because of his extraordinary football talent.
Although he's been suspended for 29 of the Browns' last 34 games, he's been allowed to stay in his self-described "comfort zone" at team headquarters while sitting out four games for another violation the league's substance abuse policy.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell bent the rules to allow Gordon to remain in the environment he needs to avoid more transgressions with marijuana or alcohol. To obtain that concession, Gordon had Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and special adviser Jim Brown in his corner.
Yet Gordon continues to push the envelope of how much drama the Browns can stand.
It's an envelope he's pushed repeatedly by pleading guilty to driving while impaired in July 2014 in Raleigh, N.C., and by failing multiple drug tests, one of which he blamed on prescription cough medicine. Haslam has been at the helm for all of Gordon's transgressions.
This time all Gordon needed to do to avoid further sullying his reputation and that of the team was submit to a paternity test.
It came to light Wednesday that a warrant was issued Aug. 31 for Gordon's arrest on a charge of failure to submit to genetic testing. In a document filed in the juvenile division of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Christine M. Lockhart of Maple Heights alleges that Gordon is the father of her 1-year-old daughter. Since Sept. 25, 2015, Gordon has failed to respond to multiple orders to take the test.
Perhaps he's not the baby's father. Perhaps Gordon feels this is merely an attempt to get a piece of his $816,600 salary, which is what's left in 2016 after the four-game suspension. But if Gordon is trying to show he's changed, ignoring subpoenas isn't the way to do it.
Dodging the test makes it look like Lockhart's claim is true. And for a 25-year-old trying to resurrect his career, it seems like a strange way to repay his supporters for what at times seems like misplaced trust.
An NFL spokesman said the matter will not affect the status of Gordon's suspension. And it doesn't sound as if his latest headline-grabbing misstep has affected his relationship with Browns coach Hue Jackson.
"He is still doing well in my opinion," Jackson said. "I don't know all the inner workings of that (case). I can't tell you about everything that goes on outside this building. But I know in this building, in our meetings, with me, with our coaches, with the players, he has been outstanding. That's what I have to judge on.
"I have nothing but great things to say about Josh. I'm not the judge, the jury on any of this. What I do is support. Let's make sure we do the right thing, whatever that is, pertaining to the situation. But hopefully this will be wrapped up sooner rather than later."
Probably not soon enough for Jackson. Gordon's attorneys released a statement late Wednesday that Gordon was unaware he was due in court until noon and attended a hearing soon after. The matter was continued until November should another hearing be needed.
Jackson may want to be a father figure, but he didn't have to go the "a plus in the building" route that his predecessor Mike Pettine did with ex-quarterback Johnny Manziel last season. Changing the culture demands accountability, not just in the building but with responsibilities outside it.
Even Gordon's teammates may not condone being a delinquent dad. Jackson preached about character in February at the NFL combine, so it was disappointing that he didn't express more disappointment in Gordon.
Gordon looks on track to return to practice on Oct. 3 and play at home against the Patriots on Oct. 9. The Browns will welcome him back, as they have before.
But if there are those in Berea who still have reservations about Gordon's maturity, Wednesday's issue did nothing to bury those seeds of doubt.
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