It looks like there might be hope for a Johnny Football-Josh Gordon connection this season after all. ESPN is reporting that Gordon's legal team will use a "second hand smoke" defense in order to appeal the wide receiver's year-long ban from the NFL. This comes after Pro Football Talk reported that Gordon's drug test was questionably close to the limit for a positive match. While this isn't a surefire defense that will get the Browns star on the field this season, it's looking better than it has since Roger Goodell handed down the ban on May 9th.
Specifically, the defense team will argue that Gordon's low-yet-over-the-limit results came from second-hand smoke and not his own, and that the discrepancy reported by Pro Football Talk was a result of this. The Big Lead reports that the NFL limit for positive tests of marijuana is much lower than that of other governing bodies like Major League Baseball and the Olympics, so it is possible that Gordon could successfully claim that he himself did not smoke before the positive test was administered.
Gordon's appeal is set for August 1st, after which it should become clear whether Johnny Manziel will make it rain to the tune of Josh Gordon touchdown catches.
