During a candid conversation, Josh Gordon pointed to a hit from the Pittsburgh Steelers as the moment that led to an ankle injury he still deals with today. The former Cleveland Browns receiver said it happened during his rookie season in a freezing-season finale in Pittsburgh. What seemed like just another play at the time turned into a long-term issue, with Gordon revealing that the pain never went away and has become so severe that he considers himself on disability. And the player he blames for the hit?

“James Harrison broke my ankle,” Gordon said on N3on’s YouTube segment. “It was my rookie season, too. The foot was planted, it’s just the cleats got planted and that s— a– turf in Pittsburgh, in S—-burgh..”

“But anyway, and it gets the last game of the season, freezing cold, and my body just goes down,” He continued. “I fumble the ball. I’m like, ‘F–k that ball.’ My leg, you know what I mean?. And to this day, you see, it’ll pop on you every time I’m walking. There it goes. If I’m walking somewhere, I’m on disability, you know? Well, I can barely feel my feet. They — you up and that —– me up good in there in the league a couple times, but I say the James Harrison hit probably”

Gordon’s NFL journey began when the Browns picked him in the second round of the 2012 supplemental draft, and his rookie season gave him plenty of memories, though not all of them were good ones. In the final game of that 2012 season, on December 30 against the Steelers, he injured his right ankle and missed the second half of the game. Before going down, he still put together four catches for 39 yards, along with the only fumble of his career.

Since the injury came so late in the year, it didn’t cost him any extra playing time beyond that. He wrapped up his rookie season with 50 receptions, 805 yards, and five touchdowns across 16 games and 13 starts.

Even though Gordon pointed to Harrison as the cause of the injury, he was quick to bring up another suspect, too, the turf at Heinz Field (the former name of Acrisure Stadium), where the game was played.

The issue of turf versus grass is still one of the most controversial in the world of football, particularly following FIFA’s decision to introduce natural grass surfaces for major tournaments. That conversation has only intensified in Pittsburgh, where the playing surface came under heavy scrutiny throughout the 2025 season.

Earlier this year, the NFLPA released its report cards grading all 32 teams across several categories, and the Steelers came in dead last. Players, coaches, and fans frequently criticized the field conditions. Pittsburgh appears to be making a change in response.

According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the team plans to install a new playing surface ahead of the 2026 season, a blend of Bermuda and bluegrass called Tahoma 31 Bermuda, the same type already used at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field and Chicago’s Soldier Field.

“It’s a different blend of what we have been using,” Rooney told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They’ve been using it in other places, and it’s been working.”

Whether or not the new turf settles the debate, it doesn’t change where Gordon stands today. By his own account, that injury never really healed, and it’s part of why he considers himself on disability now.

But that one bad game in Pittsburgh never got in the way of what came after. By the time his career wrapped up, Gordon had racked up more than 250 receptions, 4,284 yards, and 21 touchdowns, numbers that show just how talented he really was, even with everything that came with it.