David Njoku misses practice with a sore back
By Thomas Moore
Cleveland Browns rookie tight end David Njoku missed practice on Thursday with a sore back, an unexpected occurrence that head coach Hue Jackson downplayed.
It has been quite a first week for rookie tight end David Njoku.
There have been a few dropped passes that caused some agita with Browns fans, as well as a touchdown catch and subsequent spike that caught everyone’s attention.
On Thursday, however, there was nothing as Njoku was held out of practice with an undisclosed back injury, head coach Hue Jackson explained to clevelandbrowns.com:
"“I think he’ll be fine. I think it flared up right at the start of practice. Those backs are kind of tricky. You start feeling good and things lock up a little bit, so hopefully, I don’t think it’s anything major. I think we’ll be fine. We will definitely take a good peek at it.”"
You never want to hear about a player having a back injury, but for now we can all hope that Jackson is right that it is not anything more sinister.
The Browns need Njoku on the field is going to be a big part of the Browns offense this season, along with second-year tight end Seth DeValve as Cleveland looks to duplicate the success of the New England Patriots, who helped have run a two-tight end offense that has been the envy of the NFL for a few years now.
Having both Njoku and DeValve available this fall is something that tight ends coach Greg Seamon is looking forward to, according to clevelandbrowns.com:
"“They both run well. In the end, I am hopeful they can do virtually the same things. You don’t want each of them to be a type that only does a few things specific to themselves when they are on the field. You want them to have a broad based approach to the offense. I don’t think there will be that much difference when we get down the road a little ways.”"
The Browns will be back in action on Friday night at the annual Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnery Stadium. Jackson said the scrimmage will be treated like a game and feature live tackling, a necessary evil that has its drawbacks.
Next: David Njoku: Great talent, greater expectations
If Njoku can participate it will be interesting to see how Jackson employs his two young tight ends and what measures defensive coordinator Gregg Williams takes to counter them.