The Josh Gordon story is a tale of rises and falls.

On Friday evening, he rose again.

The NFL ended Gordon’s indefinite suspension with a conditional reinstatement that hinges on the 28-year old receiving clinical care and fulfilling “other arrangements,” according to a league statement. Gordon had been suspended since December for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In March, the Patriots applied an original-round tender to Gordon, a restricted free agent, to keep him under team control. The veteran wideout signed the 1-year tender a month later and applied for his reinstatement in early August.

Then, with the rest of the football world, he waited to learn how the NFL would answer the last, lingering question of New England’s offseason; one Gordon has faced repeatedly over his checkered career.

Will he be allowed to play again?

At last, an answer came.

“We are all rooting for Josh to succeed, both personally and professionally," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in the league’s statement. "Everyone shares in that hope and will continue to support him to every extent possible. But as Josh acknowledged, ultimately his success is up to him.”

On the surface, Gordon’s return is exactly what the Patriots, whose receiving corps ranks in the basement of the league, need. But the surface is never the right place to start with Gordon.

Addiction has complicated his present and future dating back 15 years into his past; his flashes of football brilliance routinely dimmed by off-field issues, interrupted by suspension. Last season, upon being traded from Cleveland, Gordon moved his family to Foxborough, where he finally seemed to find peace and sustained success.

Both were fleeting.

His suspension snipped a campaign that brought 40 receptions for 720 yards and three touchdowns in just 11 games. He ranked among the league leaders in yards per catch. He was a rare rocket threat for Tom Brady, who’s made a Hall of Fame career firing to puddle-jumping slot receivers who could move the chains.

Gordon soared over and through secondaries. The Patriots offense soared with him. Until, with two regular-season games to go, he was gone.

Only a power-running parachute saved New England from crashing with him at season’s end. The Pats landed safely, cradling their sixth Lombardi trophy.

With Gordon back on board, charting a new course in pursuit of their seventh becomes much easier — his immense talent even aside.

Had his reinstatement been delayed any further, New England would have had to contend with a cloud of uncertainty around cutdown day or worse — during the regular season. Now, Gordon can reincorporate himself into the offense with three weeks left before the opener. He can practice as soon as Sunday.

Behind the scenes, experience will shape needed changes to Gordon’s daily regimen and the staff’s plan for him.

Sure, the wideout depth around him looks about as barren as it was last September. But this time around, the Patriots know their backup plan if trouble finds Gordon again midseason.

They’ll ride a Sony Michel-led stable of backs to grind down defenses. Brady will slice secondaries to pieces with devastating play-action passes and a sharp quick game. Talented youngsters N’Keal Harry and Jakobi Meyers will step in next to Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett.

The rest they’ll figure out on the fly. They’ve done it once before.

Josh Gordon is back. For how long, no one knows.

This much can be said: The Patriots’ risk of crashing without him is even less than it was a year ago when one of the NFL’s best receivers fell again and they rose once more with the Lombardi trophy in hand.