After Browns receiver Josh Gordon issued an aspirational-but-ominous statement regarding the fact that he’ll miss the first week of training camp, Browns G.M. John Dorsey said that Gordon will be placed on the non-football injury list. According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dorsey said Wednesday that the Browns will use a different designation.

According to Cabot, the Browns will place Gordon on the “did not report” list.

On the surface, that doesn’t mean much. He’s either with the team or not, and if he’s not with the team, the Browns need to find a way to account for him until he returns.

But “did not report” implies something more negative and voluntary than the non-football illness designation. It has the sound and feel of a holdout; indeed, it potentially makes Gordon subject to the daily fine of $40,000 for each day he missed.

Maybe there is, in a roundabout way, a desire by Gordon to improve his financial standing. Because Gordon appeared in only five games in 2014 and five games in 2017, his shot at free agency (restricted or unrestricted) continues to be delayed. This year, the Browns were able to keep him by offering a one-year, $790,000 deal. Maybe the anxiety that reportedly is keeping him from camp arises in part from the fact that, more than six years after being drafted, he’s still making peanuts relative to other elite receivers.

Or maybe the Browns simply placed Gordon on the “did not report” list in order to free up the 90th roster spot. Absent an explanation as to why they used the device (the question has been posed), it’s impossible to know why the Browns opted for this specific designation. Either way, the words “did not report” carry much different weight than “non-football illness.”