San Francisco could add deep threat Gordon to Line Up

The San Francisco 49ers inched closer to the top of the NFC West this past weekend. With an impressive win against the Houston Texans and the Seattle Seahawks loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the 49ers are back to within just one game of first place.

Rumors have begun to fly over the possibility of the 49ers acquiring wide receiver Josh Gordon from the trade happy Cleveland Browns.

If that trade takes place, it would give the 49ers the deep threat they have been missing since Michael Crabtree’s offseason Achilles injury sidelined him for most if not all of this season.

Cleveland is asking for at least a second round pick to give up Gordon, their young 22-year old second year receiver. However, that might be too high of a pick for San Francisco to give up and could cause the entire deal to collapse.

San Francisco should be getting help at wide receiver in two weeks, when Mario Manningham comes of the physically unable to perform list. Crabtree also looks to be set to return sometime during November.

Head Coach Jim Harbaugh said that Crabtree has started to run and should be back before the end of November. Nevertheless, even with the two returning, the 49ers would be much better off pursuing the acquisition of Gordon.

Manningham can help the 49ers deep, but he is coming off a knee injury and could take more time to come up to speed. Crabtree is not their deep threat, but was the go-to-guy for Colin Kaepernick over the second half of the season.

Gordon has 18 catches this season for 303 yards, despite the fact he was suspended for the first two games this season.

Gordon has size at 6’3” and 225 pounds and his talent is growing each week as he becomes accustomed to playing in the NFL. Last season he had 50 receptions and 805 yards as a rookie. He is averaging more than 16 yards per catch over his brief career.

Cleveland wants to stockpile for the upcoming draft to rebuild their roster. The 49ers have one second round pick and could have another based on the trade conditions that sent former quarterback Alex Smith to KC.

The explosion potential that Gordon could bring to the 49ers is great. His seven career receptions for touchdowns average more than 43 yards per catch, showing that he can get deep and get open for the big play.

The deal of course, would come with some risk. Gordon could face a suspension of one-year if he were to violate the substance abuse policy of the league again.

That is the biggest reason the 49ers are hesitate about giving up a second round pick for Gordon.