Cleveland Browns sign supplemental pick Josh Gordon to four-year deal

By Mary Kay Cabot, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns receiver Josh Gordon, eager to catch up with his fellow rookies, signed a four-year contract just four days after the Browns picked him in the second round of Thursday's supplemental draft.

The deal is worth $5.3 million, $3.8 million guaranteed.

The signing leaves No. 3 overall pick Trent Richardson and No. 22 overall pick Brandon Weeden as the Browns' only unsigned draft picks, but General Manager Tom Heckert said last week that he expects both to be in training camp on time.

Rookies report July 24 and take the field the next day. Veterans report July 26 and also practice the next morning, but the first session open to the public in Berea is July 28 from 8:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.

Gordon played one full season at Baylor in 2010, catching 42 passes for 714 yards and tying Kendall Wright with a team-high seven touchdown. He was suspended indefinitely in July 2011 after failing his second marijuana test at the school, and transferred to Utah, where he had to sit out last season because of NCAA transfer rules.

Heckert said last week that Gordon (6-3, 224 pounds) has the makings of a No. 1 receiver and that he qualifies as an elite wideout. Art Briles, his coach at Baylor, told The Plain Dealer that Gordon definitely would have been a first-round pick this year had he played in 2011.

Gordon, who will challenge for a starting job opposite Greg Little, said he feels he will be ready to start this season if the Browns want him to.

In other Browns' contract news, Monday's 4 p.m. deadline passed without the Browns signing franchised kicker Phil Dawson to a multiyear deal. It means Dawson, heading into his 14th season with the Browns, will play out the year under the franchise tender for the second straight season, this time at $3.81 million. The two sides can revisit a long-term deal after the season.

Heckert said in March that he wanted to wrap up Dawson for the long haul, and Dawson said at minicamp last month that he wanted to finish his career here.

"I'd like to, I really would," Dawson said then. "I'm not thinking about my career being over at this point, but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to go play somewhere else.

"We'll see what happens. Like I've told you guys before, I'm not very good at predicting the future, but I'm just gonna go to work like I always do and hope that things get worked out."

Dawson still has his sights on Lou Groza's 45-year-old team record of 1,349 points. He currently has 1,155.

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