No, it's not crazy. That was the rule at the time. Gordon was aware of that rule. Laws change in real life, do you think people get to complain when they were convicted under the old law how it's not fair? You break the rules, you suffer the consequences.
And the fact that you're arguing that the NFL shouldn't do that is what's crazy to me. How on earth can you argue that they shouldn't do that? If players are being let off their suspensions now, why shouldn't players of old have been let off their suspensions? And since that can't happen now, all the NFL can do is pay them back the money they took out of their pockets.
Stedman will get paid for playing this week. However, Jo-Lonn Dunbar had to serve out his four games last year. Why should Stedman get let off his suspension and get paid and not Dunbar? It's too late to let Dunbar off his suspension but you can still return the game checks that were taken from him.
You can't argue one is logical and the other is not.