Why the Cleveland Browns should re-sign David Njoku

After playing out his rookie contract tight end David Njoku is a free agent, let’s take a look at why the Cleveland Browns should resign him this offseason. 

Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku has had a bit of an up and down five seasons with the team. The Browns originally drafted Njoku with the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. At the time he was only 20 years old on draft day, was a raw prospect out of Miami with a ton of upside.

Njoku seemed to really be putting it together during his second season in 2018 when he finished with 56 catches for 639 yards and 4 touchdowns. He would then have injuries rob him of most of his 2019 campaign in which he only played in four games all season.

One of the biggest knocks against Njoku during the beginning of his career was that he had a problem with drops and was not a consistent blocker. Then in the offseason before the 2020 campaign after Kevin Stefanski was hired Njoku dedicated himself to being a better all-around player.

Though his stats didn’t see a giant jump, the Browns signing Austin Hooper took lots of targets away, you could see a massive improvement in Njoku. During the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he was no longer a liability blocking in the run game but rather he was excelling at it. You could see the desire and pure commitment he put in to improve and do whatever he needed to do to help his football team.

Then there was the improvement in the reliability of his hands and seeing the drop numbers go down. In 2020 and 2021 you saw the best two seasons in terms of catch percentage of targets for Njoku. In 2020 he caught 65.5 percent of his targets and then improved it to 67.9 percent this season in 2021 according to pro football reference. Consistency from the player continues to improve, and still Njoku is only 25 years old.

Now let’s focus on the trait that he has always had, freak athleticism for a player of that size. Njoku has the raw talent to be an absolute mismatch nightmare for opposing defenses, something we have started to really see happen the last couple of seasons. Should the Browns move on from Austin Hooper, and in turn give more targets to Njoku, you could see a massive jump in the stats for Njoku.

It should be a no-brainer for the Browns to re-sign Njoku and keep him in Cleveland long-term. He is just now coming into his prime and you have seen consistent improvement since the young player entered the league. Linebackers struggle to cover him, he’s too fast, corners and safeties struggle to cover him because of his size.

Plainly put if the Browns get more consistency from the quarterback position Njoku will be a key for a successful passing attack.