The NFL suspended Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon for at least one year without pay on Tuesday for violating the league’s policy on substance abuse.

Gordon’s suspension begins immediately, the NFL said in a statement.

Gordon said last week in an open letter that his latest failed test was the result of drinking with teammates on a flight to Las Vegas on Jan. 2. He received notice to take a drug test as soon as he landed in Las Vegas.

Gordon was suspended for 10 games at the start of the 2014 season for violating the substance-abuse policy. The Browns also suspended Gordon for the season finale for violating team rules.

Gordon, who entered the NFL via the supplemental draft after being dismissed from Baylor for a failed marijuana test, caught 24 passes for 303 yards in five games in 2014. He led the NFL with 1,646 yards in just 14 games in 2013.

—Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll indicated Tuesday that the team is negotiating with running back Marshawn Lynch on a new contract.

Carroll also said during a radio interview that cornerback Richard Sherman might not need Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery as he had discussed a day earlier. Sherman injured the ulnar nerve on a hit by teammate Kam Chancellor in the second half of the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers.

Lynch is signed with the Seahawks through the 2015 season.

“We’ve been in the midst of negotiations for a long time for the future,” Carroll said on 710 ESPN Radio in Seattle. “So we’ll see how that goes.”

—New England coach Scott O’Brien will retire after 24 seasons in the NFL, including the last six seasons as the special teams coach for the Patriots. Former special teams assistant Joe Judge has been named the team’s new special teams coach.

O’Brien is slated to remain with the organization.

Judge originally joined New England as the assistant special teams coach in May of 2012. He came to the Patriots after a three-year stint at the University of Alabama as a football analyst/special teams assistant under Nick Saban.

—Tom Brady, who won a 2015 Chevrolet Colorado for being MVP in Sunday’s game, said he plans to give the truck to Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler.

It was Butler’s interception at the goal line that secured the Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Butler was undrafted rookie in last year’s NFL Draft. He earned a spot on the Patriots’ roster as a backup with stellar play during practice.

The Super Bowl MVP award was Brady’s third tying him for San Francisco’s Joe Montana for the most all time.

–The NFL on Tuesday admitted that Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson contacted league officials about New England using underinflated balls in the AFC Championship Game.

ESPN reported that Troy Vincent, NFL operations chief, confirmed in an interview with “60 Minutes Sports” that airs Tuesday on Showtime that Grigson informed league officials about balls that were underinflated.

Leading up to the Super Bowl, the league had been silent about how it found out about the potential problem. The Colts and Grigson remained mum on the subject, too.

–On the day that the Atlanta Falcons introduced Dan Quinn as their new head coach, the team also announced the hiring of five new assistant coaches.

The Falcons on Tuesday hired Richard Smith as defensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan as offensive coordinator, Raheem Morris as assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator, Bobby Turner as running backs coach, and Mike LaFleur as offensive assistant.

The club has also retained special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, defensive Line coach Bryan Cox, tight ends coach Wade Harman, wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie, and assistant special teams coach Eric Sutulovich.

–Falcons owner Arthur Blank is not pleased that the team is under investigation by the NFL for creating fake crowd noise duirng games at the Georgia Dome.

Blank saidTuesday that he was embarrassed about the probe and expects the league to find the Falcons were at fault for the faux noise. Punitive action could include a fine, lost draft pick or both.

The organization was accused in 2013 and 2014 of using fake crowd noise in an apparent attempt to make it more difficult for opponents’ offenses to call signals. Blank expects the league’s report on its findings to be issued in two to three weeks.

–Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith can concentrate on rehabbing from a foot injury this offseason now that a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge has been dropped.

Smith, one of the Ravens’ best defenders, had been charged as a result of an incident in July when he ignored police orders to leave a bathroom. Smith, according to police, was helping a woman vomit into a sink. The woman was later charged with cocaine possession.

Smith was arrested, cited and released after resisting repeated requests to step aside, according to the Baltimore Sun.

–Veteran San Diego Chargers center Nick Hardwick announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday.

Hardwick was the Chargers’ starting center for 146 games (10 in the playoffs) during his 11-year career and was a Pro Bowl center in 2006.

–Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson once again will make an appearance with the Texas Rangers in spring training.

Wilson, who is on the Rangers’ Triple-A roster, took grounders last season in the spring. Texas selected Wilson in the minor-league portion of the 2013 Rule 5 draft.

Wilson has not played baseball since 2011. He compiled a .228 batting average playing second base with a Colorado Rockies’ Tri-City Dust Devils in Class A.

–The Buffalo Bills on Tuesday claimed wide receiver Justin Brown, who was waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 30.

The Steelers selected Brown in the sixth round of the 2013 draft. The 6-foot-3, Oklahoma product recorded 12 catches for 94 yards in eight games. The Steelers waived Brown to make room for running back Ben Tate, whom they signed after Le’Veon Bell suffered a knee injury in the final regular season game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

–The Philadelphia Eagles added Stephen Thomas as a defensive quality control coach and gave two current assistants new duties on Tuesday.

Assistant special teams coach Matthew Harper was named the Eagles’ new assistant defensive backs coach. Defensive quality control coach Michael Clay became the assistant special teams coach.

The 31-year-old Thomas spent the past three seasons as Princeton’s inside linebackers coach. He previously was an assistant at Delaware as the linebackers coach in 2009 and as the secondary coach in 2010.

–Veteran NFL assistant Fred Pagac will be the new outside linebackers coach for the Denver Broncos.

FOX Sports reported that Pagac will leave the Buffalo Bills and head west. He spent more than 20 years at Ohio State before jumping to the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. He was defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2010 and 2011.