Josh Gordon's start to his Patriots career has already taken some odd turns. When the deal was reported on Monday that the Browns were sending Gordon to New England and both clubs announced the move, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick refused to touch the transaction while appearing on WEEI's Ordway, Merloni and Fauria noting that it wasn't official, despite the teams announcing it was. “Yeah, well, at this point I can’t comment on anything until whatever we do is official," he said, via WEEI.com. "I just can’t make any comment on that right now.” Belichick then continued to be mum on the Gordon trade on Tuesday morning during his conference call. "We're at the same place with him that we were yesterday, so we're in the process of working through it. We'll just have to see how it goes," he said. From there, the Gordon trade appeared to be on the level after going through the NFL's transaction wire on Tuesday afternoon, marking the end to the weird turn of events of it being officially unofficial, but also official at the same time. Or so we thought. The Patriots are looking to move to 2-1 against the Lions in Week 3! Make sure you don't miss a second of the action! Take a second to sign up for our FREE Patriots newsletter! With the thought that Gordon was officially a Patriot, reporters asked Bill Belichick during his Wednesday press conference about trade, given that he can now talk about it. Turns out, New England was still in a waiting game. "I'm not going to talk about players that are not actually on our roster, totally, Belichick said, via Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston. "There are terms that have to be met before the trade is finalized." He added: "I'm not saying it's not going to happen, I'm just saying it's not completed." According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the holdup to this deal was related to a tweak in language. In the original deal, the Patriots were sending a 2019 fifth round pick to the Browns in exchange for Gordon. The Patriots would also gain a 2019 seventh round pick if Gordon doesn't play in 10 games for New England. Now, that seventh round pick is no longer conditional and it will simply go to Foxboro along with Gordon. While appearing on Good Morning Football on Thursday morning, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport confirmed that the deal is now done under these provisions and Gordon in, in fact, a Patriot. Gordon practiced in limited fashion on Wednesday due to a hamstring injury and was seen sporting his new No. 10. With that saga now in the rearview mirror, Gordon can simply focus on his Patriots debut that reportedly could be as early as Week 3 when the team heads to Detroit to take on the Lions on Sunday Night Football.<doc-sep>The originally reported trade detail around the New England Patriots acquisition of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was the value of a conditional 2019 fifth round pick. The reports said that if Gordon was not active for 10 games that the Browns would have to send the Patriots a seventh round pick in return, effectively making the trade a pick swap. Well, the trade details have changed per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero- and they’ve changed in the Patriots favor. My understanding is the holdup in the Josh Gordon trade is related to a tweak in language. Basically, the #Patriots will get a 7th-round pick back from the #Browns. Should be done soon. — Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 19, 2018 It turns out that the Patriots are getting a seventh round pick back, locking in the trade as moving down from what is likely the end of the fifth round to what is likely the top of the seventh round. This is the draft value equivalent of a sixth round pick, which is a fantastic deal for the Patriots front office. The Patriots reportedly wanted to send the Browns a sixth round pick for Gordon, but they had already sent it to the Detroit Lions for cornerback Johnson Bademosi. Oh, and here are pictures of Gordon at his first day of practice in a Patriots uniform. He’s wearing #10. Josh Gordon, wearing No.10, is here at #Patriots practice. Cyrus Jones officially back, too. Trey Flowers and Patrick Chung (concussions) are absent. pic.twitter.com/nAbqcqlrMU — Jim McBride (@globejimmcbride) September 19, 2018 Here’s Josh Gordon catching a pass pic.twitter.com/8JtS91ht8F — Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) September 19, 2018 Here’s Josh Gordon, wearing No. 10, present at Patriots practice pic.twitter.com/bx9gKMVymP — Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) September 19, 2018 Josh Gordon. Exceptional photography by yours truly #patriots pic.twitter.com/EXw3SSIziv — Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) September 19, 2018 He’s here. First at Josh Gordon in a Patriots uniform. pic.twitter.com/1NJIIJXpUD — Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) September 19, 2018<doc-sep>
The Patriots traded for Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon. Unless they didn't! Speaking at his Wednesday press conference, Bill Belichick declined to talk about the Gordon trade -- which has been announced by all parties -- saying the deal has not been finalized yet. Belichick also included the phrase "if it's done" when talking about the team's decision to trade for Gordon. He also added there are "terms that have to be met" that have to be met before the deal can be wrapped up. This is pretty odd news because we heard on Monday that the deal was finalized and that it was a lock. The Patriots announced it: The Browns announced it: And the trade showed up on the NFL's official transaction wire: via NFL Communications It SOUNDS like this is not a big deal, and might even be more about Bill Belichick trying to keep from talking about the trade -- according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the Patriots are just trying to get a seventh-round pick back from the Browns. Here would be my guess: the Patriots and Browns are haggling over which pick they're going to give up? It's a seventh-round conditional pick; if Gordon is active for 10 games the Patriots get the Browns seventh-round pick. So maybe it's a debate over which pick they're giving (the Browns have multiple picks in play) or maybe it's a debate over the specifics of the conditions. The Browns decided to get rid of Gordon after he showed up late for practice with a hamstring injury he suffered away from the football team. Cleveland wanted to ship Gordon to the NFC -- and ended up having some discussions with San Francisco, Washington and Dallas about the troubled wideout -- but ultimately settled on giving him to the Patriots for a fifth-round pick. Unless they didn't! The Gordon trade is official according to the NFL and the Patriots and the Browns but not official according to Bill Belichick. Might want to listen to Bill on matters of details.