BEREA (92.3 The Fan) – In the corner of the Cleveland Browns locker room in Berea hangs a bunch of No. 12 brown and white jersey’s and a helmet.

The only thing missing is receiver Josh Gordon himself. But that could change soon.

“We have hope alive for that,” safety Donte Whitner said. “You always want that. He was our best player on offense. He was the leading receiver in the National Football League last year. That would be a huge boost for us if he does come back. If not, we still have guys over there that can make plays, and you’ve seen that against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“We hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.”

RELATED: Suspended Browns WR Josh Gordon Breaks His Silence, Says He Doesn’t Have Drug Problem

All signs seem to be pointing to Gordon’s year-long suspension being lifted once a new drug and substance abuse policy is agreed upon between the NFL and NFLPA. It then has to be voted on and also approved by the players.

But that has yet to happen – yet.

“We deal in the certainties,” head coach Mike Pettine said on Friday. “We were sent a very clear message from the league on how to handle our players when they’re on suspension and the lack of contact that we can have with them. That hasn’t changed until I get notification otherwise. We’ll have to just stay status quo.”​

That’s why tight end Jordan Cameron finds it difficult to feel any better about the situation on Wednesday then he did the day before.

“Until I see him in here, I’ll feel better,” Cameron said. “Right now, no.”

There have been conflicting reports as to if Gordon, who led the NFL with 1,646 yards a season ago, will receive a reprieve with a new policy, but all indications seem to be that he will.

“We’ll see what happens,” quarterback Brian Hoyer said.

Until the picture comes into focus, the Browns continue to take the approach of focusing on the players that are currently in the locker room – and as of now, Gordon isn’t among them but that could change and soon.

If and when that happens, Gordon’s locker is ready, waiting for him to return.

Along with his teammates.

Just For Kicks – Browns punter Spencer Lanning said he did not speak with Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, who kicked him in the face on a return, following Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh.

Brown told Pittsburgh reporters that he spoke to Lanning after the game about the play.

“I’m not going to say he didn’t talk to me, but I didn’t talk to him,” Lanning said Wednesday. “I didn’t see him. I was looking for him. I made a point to try to look for him.”

Lanning’s phone has blown up with messages from family and friends to check on him and of course to bust his chops over taking a foot to the face. He even deleted the Twitter app because of all the notifications.

“I caught a lot of grief from my friends,” Lanning said. “I saw the pictures because thy were sent to me. I’ve seen all the videos and I do think they’re pretty funny. I have to admit people do have some time on their hands. But at the end of the day I probably would have had more fun with it had we won.”

Taking it in stride is part of Lanning’s laid back personality. He isn’t even upset at Brown, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness, for the play.

“I wasn’t angry or anything like that,” Lanning said. “It was just sort of shocking. I was just going to laugh. Exactly what he said was pretty much what was going to happen. I was going to laugh about it and let it be. As a punter, he just should have given me a move I thought, but whatever.”

Lanning, who was more upset that the Browns gave up a 36-yard return before the penalty, declined to say if he felt Brown should be fined.

Scoring Change – Linebacker Paul Kruger lost one of his 2 sacks from Sunday’s loss to the Steelers following a scoring change made by the NFL on Wednesday.

With 5:32 remaining in the third quarter the league changed Kruger’s sack of Ben Roethlisberger to an aborted play. As a result Roethlisberger’s rushing attempts was changed to 3, the Steelers team attempts to 29.

Roethlisberger was sacked officially 3 times for a loss of 14 yards and the Steelers official yardage total was adjusted to 503.

Excused Absence – Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas was not on the practice field Wednesday. Thomas was excused for “personal reasons” the team said.

Injury Report – OUT: RB Ben Tate (knee); DNP: TE Jordan Cameron (shoulder), DL John Hughes (hamstring), LB Barkevious Mingo (shoulder); LIMITED: DL Desmond Bryant (wrist), OL Paul McQuistan (ankle); FULL: None

Practice Squad Move – The Browns signed OL Ryan Seymour to the practice squad and released OL James Brown from the practice squad.

Seymour is officially in his first NFL season out of Vanderbilt and was claimed off waivers from San Francisco on Aug. 31. He appeared as a reserve Sunday at Pittsburgh but was waived on Sept. 9.

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