Gordon’s hamstring injury was clearly pretty bad when the Patriots traded for him. The Patriots threatened to renege on the deal and the Browns made the 7th round pick non-conditional. I don’t think (a) the Patriots wanted to publicly threaten to back out of a deal which would hurt their reputation for future trades, or (b) the Browns would have caved like that if they weren’t sure the Patriots would win the battle, at which point they would probably need to cut Gordon because no one else would be interested.
If you look at the reporting, Adam Schefter stated that Gordon would be ready to play last Sunday, but that was before Gordon even reported to the Patriots. In other words, the Browns claimed that Gordon was healthy - with the hamstring injury being very minor - but the Patriots found out unexpectedly it was worse than advertised.
Hoping he’ll play on Sunday.