David Njoku leading Cleveland Browns three-headed tight end monster

David Njoku headlines a trio of quality tight ends, with Austin Hooper playing like he wants to be a Pro Bowler again and Harrison Bryant lobbying for playing time also. 

It has been great to watch David Njoku of the Cleveland Browns finally emerging as a star tight end, putting it together as a blocker and a receiver this season.

Unfortunately, he had his best day in a losing effort versus the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 5, hauling in seven catches in seven targets for 170 receiving yards to lead the team. Tight ends tend to be rather anonymous anyway, but if you put up big numbers and the team doesn’t win, it’s difficult for people to care or even notice.

As it is, tight ends really earn their money but get little glory, going up against big defensive linemen and taking a beating, but they protect the quarterback and they also gain yardage for the running backs. Tight ends may be the best bargain in the NFL and are next to offensive linemen for being under-appreciated.

Overall this season, Njoku has 14 catches on 16 targets for a catch percentage of 82.4 percent, and 260 yards in 219 offensive snaps this season (62 percent of the Browns offensive plays). If you believe Pro Football Focus, Njoku has graded in the top five the past few weeks, meaning that they believe he is playing at a Pro Bowl level or close to it.

Teammate Austin Hooper is a notch or two lower but also playing at a high level, and Harrison Bryant has made significant strides since his rookie season.

Njoku’s career has been an uphill battle since being drafted in the first round in 2017 with Myles Garrett and Jabrill Peppers (since traded). Njoku came into the league with enormous potential and upside, but very, very raw. He had only had two years of college ball at the University of Miami (that’s the one in Florida), but he had a really strong combine performance.

His rookie year was spent just learning the fundamentals. In 2018, he established himself as a receiving tight end with 639 receiving yards. However, he was infamous for his lack of blocking skill. General manager John Dorsey called him out on it in the media. That was probably not the right approach for a player who, as far as anybody knows, has always given 100 percent and has been a good teammate.

Cleveland fans have always had a blue-collar mentality, even those of us who are doctors, lawyers, or engineers. We tend to love tight ends, but tight ends that don’t block well are a problem. So, all of a sudden the fans were disenchanted with a first-round draft choice tight end who didn’t block well. That’s about as low as it gets.

Nevertheless, Njoku responded to the challenge and worked diligently on his blocking, although the Browns were loaded with talent at tight end and he could not stay healthy to get enough playing time for anyone to really notice his improvement in 2019. For whatever reason, former coach Freddie Kitchens literally made him fifth string, which is hard to do in the NFL.

Nevertheless, he found himself a healthy scratch at one point behind Demetrius Harris, Rickey Seals-Jones, Pharaoh Brown, and Stephen Carlson. Very few NFL teams have ever had five tight ends on the roster, making Njoku a rarity.

Not surprisingly, Njoku asked to be traded and was regarded as a draft bust. But in 2020, Njoku quietly became a top blocking tight end in the NFL. He didn’t put up huge receiving numbers, but within the Browns clubhouse, he received great respect. Andrew Berry did the most shocking thing. The young GM shocked the fans by exercising Njoku’s fifth-year contract option to keep him on contract for 2021 at a cost of $6 million dollars.

Really? Six million bucks for draft bust Njoku? Really. He is not a draft bust.

For the first five games, he’s been at a Pro Bowl level. For what it’s worth, Njoku is currently graded slightly higher than George Kittle and Rob Gronkowski, which is crazy. Njoku’s blocking numbers are actually lower than last season, but he has been so good as a receiver that his overall scores have been very high.

More often than not, Njoku is part of a two-tight-end formation, with his buddy Austin Hooper also having a very good year. The Browns actually have a five-headed monster at tight end with Stephen Carlson and summer camp surprise Connor Davis both on IR.

Carlson established himself as a bona fide blocking tight end. Davis is a longshot, 6-foot-8, 276-pound converted lineman who showed amazing agility in pre-season. This writer is not the world’s greatest scout, but both of these players pass the eyeball test. They may not be headed to Canton, but they are NFL tight ends. You can read about them on page four of this article.