Browns reportedly were tired of Josh Gordon not being in shape

The Cleveland Browns had ample reasons to move on from troubled wide receiver Josh Gordon, who is now a member of the New England Patriots following a trade.

One reason that may surprise the Gordon Groupies who fawned over his workout videos on social media is that the Browns were tired of Gordon not being in actual game shape, according to Albert Breer of Monday Morning Quarterback.

Breer highlighted the team’s frustration during an appearance on NBC Sports Boston’s Quick Slants podcast:

“I think this goes beyond just the substance abuse problem. The Browns had gotten frustrated with him, and it wasn’t just the hamstring and what happened last weekend. It was also the fact that he had trouble getting himself into football shape. And I think a lot of people look at him … and by human standards, he’s in great shape - not the same thing as being in football shape. And in that first game, you might notice that they put him out there for I think 69 snaps, right? Hue Jackson said before the game, ‘We didn’t intend to start him,’ but they did intend to play him a lot and then they said they only started him because of personnel groupings.

“My understanding is part of the reason they put him out there for that long was to show him, ‘Hey, look - you may think you’re in great shape, but being in football shape is something different.’ And so if you watch the game, he wore down a little bit at the end and that’s something they had experienced in practice, and so that’s something to watch for.”

Just another footnote in what will go down as one of the strangest chapters in franchise history.

At least now Gordon is the Patriots’ problem and the Browns can move on.