Josh Gordon could make his Seahawks debut on Monday Night Football against the 49ers at the close of Week 10. Gordon was claimed off waivers by Seattle from New England after the Patriots had waived him off of Injured Reserve. Gordon's camp was making a point to publicize that Gordon was healthy prior to his release, and Gordon passed a physical when he arrived in Seattle. The expectation is that he'll be active on Monday night, although how much he'll play is less known.
The official active/inactive report drops about 6:50 p.m. ET, and we'll have updates through that time here and on Twitter @SN_Fantasy.
MORE MNF: How Gordon affects DK Metcalf | DraftKings Showdown
Is Josh Gordon playing Monday night?
UPDATE: Gordon is officially ACTVE.
The best sign we have about Gordon's availability came in his full practice on Saturday. Normally having the last practice before a game as "full" leads to a player being active. The wrench in Gordon's situation, of course, is that his availability could also be affected by how ready he is to play for the Seahawks. If he wasn't prepared with enough grasp of the playbook, maybe he'd still practice in full but then not be active on gameday.
The most likely outcome is that Gordon is active but is only used on a limited number of plays, at least in his first week. Whether he affects DK Metcalf further down the line might depend on his Week 10 performance, but in Week 10, Gordon will probably seem like more of a specialist than anything else. Seattle may draw up a specific play-action deep ball or two for him or throw him a couple balls in the end zone. Those two roles would both make Gordon a boom-or-bust FLEX play if you were relying on him. But it's unlikely he plays enough this week to hurt Metcalf's value, although keep in mind, all of this comes against a strong San Francisco defense.
If you were counting on playing Gordon this week, your best pivot may come from the 49ers in the form of Deebo Samuel, Dante Pettis or Marquise Goodwin. And if Gordon was in your FLEX spot, the preferred pivot will be Ross Dwelley if George Kittle is out as expected. If you prefer someone on Seattle and Gordon is out, either TE Jacob Hollister or WR Jaron Brown is your best bet.