Philadelphia Eagles didn’t trust Josh Gordon enough to trade for him

In case you were wondering why the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t trade for Josh Gordon. It’s because they didn’t trust him.

This past week was quite hectic for former Cleveland Browns wide receiver, Josh Gordon. Just last week, Gordon had every intention of playing for the Browns for the entirety of the 2018 season. But an accidental hamstring injury that occurred forced the Browns organization to call it quits finally.

We all know that Gordon has had trouble with his off-field issues over the years, which kept him out of the game of football for multiple seasons. Just as he was finally getting it back together this year, the Browns have just decided that enough was enough, and it was time for a fresh start.

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That’s when Gordon was placed on the trade block late last Saturday. And if the Browns weren’t able to find a trade partner, then he would still be set free to the Free Agency market first thing Monday morning. Initially, the Eagles weren’t exactly an ideal trade partner for the Browns as all was well for the Eagles receiving corps just a couple of days ago. But after veteran wide receiver Mike Wallace suffered a broken leg against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Eagles have now become what you would call desperate in the passing game.

Rumor has it that the Eagles were one of the handfuls of teams who picked up the phone to call the Browns for Gordon. Knowing how aggressive Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has been in the past, plenty of people probably thought he could get a lot for a little.

Everybody soon became shocked when they found out that the New England Patriots would most likely land Gordon. And it only took a fifth-round pick. Knowing how many picks the Eagles have in next year’s draft, it had us wondering why the Eagles weren’t comfortable departing with a fifth-round pick for a win-now move. Now, the answer is out. The Eagles just didn’t trust Josh Gordon enough.

No Trust for Gordon:

NFL Insider, Adam Caplan joined the guys over at the “Go Birds” podcast with WIP to discuss the deal that never happened. Basically, since the position needed a patch-up sooner than later, the Eagles needed a sure thing at the wideout position starting this Sunday, rather than someone who may or may not be able to play for a couple of weeks.

Gordon’s tests on his hamstring came back clear after the trade, but that still doesn’t assure anybody that he is going to be able to play for the remainder of the season without any setbacks. Since the Eagles are short-staffed and in win-now mode, they don’t really have any room for errors when it comes to trading. Here’s Caplan’s take on the situation, courtesy of Eliot Shorr-Parks.

"“The reality is the information they had is they probably shouldn’t have got him. I don’t think they trusted the situation,” Caplan said. “What they want was someone they knew could play right away and they could depend on.”"

There you have it. It’s as simple as that. Many could assume that was the case, but now it is pretty much confirmed. Could the Eagles locker room be a better fit for a player with a troubled past? Probably. But the team just simply didn’t want to take the risk. Hence why they settled for a familiar face in Jordan Matthews. He will be available to play for the Eagles this Sunday and is already quite familiar with the offense. Hopefully, it’s a winning situation for both parties.