BEREA, Ohio -- Coach Hue Jackson stressed that Josh Gordon won't start the opener against the Steelers, but Gordon promised to be here this season regardless of his off-field issues.

"I know I'm going to be here playing football, and anything outside of these walls, I think I have the right people in place to help me in any way in which I need them to help me,'' Gordon said Monday in his first interview since returning from his treatment program at the University of Florida on Aug. 18th.

Gordon was referring not only to his effort to stay sober and mentally healthy, but also the child support battle he's involved in with Christina Lockhart, the mother of his three-year-old daughter.

He said he plans to be ready to face the Steelers, even if he won't start the game.

"Yeah, Week 1 regular season,'' he said. "That's my focus. It is. That's what I've been told to do and that's what I plan on doing."

Ruled out of Thursday night's game against the Lions with his tweaked hamstring, Gordon also showed he hasn't lost his sense of humor. Asked how he tweaked the hammy, he winked and said "dehydration."

He acknowledged that it would be nice for his teammates to reach out if they see a red flag, but that he'll be okay even if they don't.

"I just need them to be themselves, honestly, that's it,'' he said. "If they feel like 'caring for Josh today,' great, if not, great. I'm going to be all right and things will go as they should go. But like I said, I'm definitely happy to have them in and around my life in any type of way possible. Any way they want to be a part of it, I love those guys and I'm grateful to have them.''

Looking like he hasn't missed a weightlifting session during his month away, Gordon stressed that "life is good." He was obviously scripted to say 'as it relates to football' whenever anyone asked about his time away or tried to get him to elaborate on the reasons behind it.

Did you know you were in trouble with your sobriety and raise your hand to get help?

"As it relates to football, I've got a great group of guys here and a group of people here that I can lean on no matter what's going on outside of here that help me focus and stay grounded,'' he said. "My big objective is to win games and the objective is to play football."

In terms of needing to be away for a while, does he feel settled and at peace now?

"In relating to football, it's good to be back in this atmosphere, it's right where I need to be. I'm glad to be here,'' he said.

You said you left for a mental break, how did that go?

"Um, as it relates to football, I'm doing well,'' he reiterated. "I'm glad I was able to have the opportunity and it's good to be here and I feel ... grateful for the opportunity to have the chance to come back out here and be with my teammates and enjoy this beautiful atmosphere."

Given everything Gordon's been through, including more than a month in treatment at Florida, Jackson has no plans to start him against the Steelers Sept. 9 at FirstEnergy Stadium. He'll play him, but see how it goes. Gordon worked out in Gainesville, but not like he does here.

"It's tough,'' said Jackson. "As I said before, he's not going to start any way. That's not going to change. We'll come up with the right package for him to play. I would not expect him to go play the whole game or anything like that, but I expect him to contribute to the football team when we get ready to play Pittsburgh and he's ready to go."

Gordon, who's played only 10 games over the past four seasons, supports whatever Jackson decides to do. Although the NFL had jurisdiction over clearing him for practice and games on Saturday, it's now up to the Browns to determine when and how much he plays.

"I've got no hard emotions or feelings or thoughts about that,'' he said. "That's up to him to decide. It's his team, he's the leader. I want to come in, I want to help this team and organization win any way I can. And any way they seen fit to apply me or put me in this system, that's what I'm going to do.''

Gordon knows he can't control over whether or not the coaches feel they can count on them.

"The only thing you can do is walk it out and live out those actions on a daily basis,'' he said. "I can't make anybody feel any type of way about me. So that's going to be on them. But me, I've got to keep doing me.''

Gordon, who's playing for the third-year veteran minimum of $790,000 this season, isn't worried about getting back his timing and chemistry with Tyrod Taylor.

"We spend a lot of time after practice, in between practice, workouts, talking about what we're going to do in the film room, studying, it never really stops with Tyrod,'' said Gordon. "He's a hard worker and he's instilling that in all of us. It's something we admire and something that's contagious and he's definitely the guy we look towards to pull us in that direction.''

Likewise, he's not coming in cold like he did at the end of 2014 and 2017. He was here for the entire offseason program, including organized team activities and the mandatory minicamp in June.



"It's huge to have that advantage of learning the playbook,'' he said. "Even getting back now, it's almost as if I never left knowing exactly what to do, where to be at. The plays are somewhat similar, the lingo, the verbiage is real familiar. So it's been easy to hop right back in and pick up right where I left off.''



He stopped short of saying he needs football in his life.



"It's a part of what I do, it's not who I am,'' he said. "It's a big part of that and I'm definitely grateful for it, I love it. But you need balance. Too much of one thing outweighing another, it's not healthy for you.''



Still, he's got a burning desire to help the Browns win. That hasn't changed since 2012, when late Browns GM Tom Heckert drafted him in the supplemental draft with a second-round pick. It's just that he's been suspended for 56 of his possible 96 NFL games, and his substance abuse has overshadowed his career.



"As far as from a production standpoint, yes, that's where my passion lies, in bringing wins to Cleveland and getting us to the playoffs and a championship,'' he said. "Hopefully, I'm one of the people at the forefront that get to help do it, whether it's vocally or whether it's out here producing and leading by example.''



Gordon squashed the widely-circulating narrative that he left to avoid the glare of the Hard Knocks cameras.



"I've had my fair share with cameras and interviews and it's alright,'' he said. "Not bad, it's okay.''



Even waiting for him to land at the airport?



"Oh yeah, I mean, it's part of the show,'' he said. "It's part of the business, entertainment. It comes with the territory. It's what I signed up for and that's alright.''



He's eager to share the field with Jarvis Landry, who's taken over the receiver room in Gordon's absence.



"Man, he's a leader, I know that,'' said Gordon. "I don't necessarily even see anything depth chart-wise as ones or twos. To me, it's a group of guys in there as a collective. We're all the same. We're all equals. We share everything. We work together. We grind together. We're going to get excited and celebrate together. If one person does good, we all do good. We're all ones in my eyes.''



Watching the Eagles game from the sidelines, he saw an offense that could use someone like him. And Antonio Callaway (groin). And Duke Johnson, who has yet to catch a pass this preseason.



"Offensively, room to grow,'' he said. "Defensively incredible. Incredible performance across the board, the likes of which I haven't seen before. Amazing, amazing overall just turn of events and a resilient, resilient defense. But offensively we know we have room to get better and we will get better.''



As for himself?



"Always better to come,'' he said.