The NFL has denied suspended receiver Josh Gordon’s application for reinstatement.

A league spokesman confirmed that the application was denied and that Gordon can apply again at a future date.

The decision puts Gordon’s participation for the 2016 season in doubt. He was suspended for all of 2015 for testing positive for alcohol.

On Monday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Gordon “raised a red flag” because of a recent league-administered drug test. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because results of NFL drug tests are not made public, says Gordon didn’t have a positive substance abuse test.

But a sample collected in March showed Gordon had traces of marijuana and a diluting substance in his system. The level of marijuana was less than the minimum required by the NFL for a positive test.

SAINTS: Coach Sean Payton is angered over the nation’s gun laws and derides as “madness” the idea that everybody needs a gun.

“I hate guns,” he said in an interview with USA Today Sports.

Payton spoke following the shooting death of Will Smith, a 34-year-old former Saints defensive lineman. He was killed Saturday night after an argument following a traffic accident in New Orleans.

Payton said he drove to the scene of the shooting at 5:45 a.m. Sunday because he was unable to sleep. The coach said he’s not an “extreme liberal” and often will “find myself leaning to the right on some issues. But on this issue, I can’t wrap my brain around it.”

Payton understood that his opinion might be unpopular, but he wanted to speak out.

• Newly released surveillance video shows what may have precipitated the shooting death of Smith: Moments earlier, what appears to be his Mercedes SUV can be seen bumping the rear of a Hummer that stopped on a busy street.

The Hummer then pulls over, but rather than stop to inspect for any damage, the Mercedes pulls around it and drives away.

The lawyer for the Hummer-driving Cardell Hayes has said his client was the victim of a hit-and-run just before the shooting. The videotaped encounter happened several blocks from the spot where police say Hayes, now following Smith, hit his Mercedes from behind hard enough to push it into another car carrying Smith’s acquaintances.

GIANTS: Jason Pierre-Paul says seeing his right hand without skin after a fireworks accident last July 4 was like watching a movie.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated , the New York Giants’ defensive end said he could see every ligament in his hand after the explosion that cost him one finger and sidelined him for half of the 2015 season.

“You only see this stuff in the movies,” Pierre-Paul told the magazine. “You see all your ligaments, your tendons, everything. I saw how the hand really is without skin on it.”

Pierre-Paul added he recalled telling doctors, “Whatever y’all do, do not cut my hand off.”

He said he couldn’t recall much of what happened while hospitalized, adding he needed to reconstruct that time through conversations with family, friends and advisers.

Pierre-Paul, 27, said he now has a new approach to life.

“I look at things differently,” he said. “I try not to put myself in horrible situations anymore. I have a lot of people depending on me.”

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