The Cleveland Browns won't have one of their locker room leaders in the building next season. David Njoku bid farewell before free agency started, and with the addition of Jack Stoll and the re-signing of Blake Whiteheart, the Browns' tight end room might be all set.
Surprisingly, Njoku's free agency has been rather quiet. He was projected to be near the top of the list of coveted tight ends, yet there haven't been many rumors about his next destination. Perhaps teams are more concerned about his health issues than it initially seemed, or maybe he didn't have as much pull as he thought he did.
That's why he may end up signing with whichever team wants him, even if that turns Browns fans against him.
That's the case in FanSided's Zachary Rotman's latest prediction, as he believes Njoku will end up landing with the Baltimore Ravens.
"Njoku has some value to rebuild, and the Baltimore Ravens make sense as a landing spot. Yes, they do have Mark Andrews, but lost Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar to free agency. The Ravens' offense has thrived in recent years with Andrews and Likely catching passes, and there's a good chance Baltimore will want a second pass-catching option at the tight end position," Rotman argued.
David Njoku may go from friend to foe if Ravens prediction comes true
This move would make perfect sense, and it wouldn't be the first time a player commits the ultimate sin of signing with a divisional rival. This is a business, first and foremost, and the players have a job to do, just like everybody else.
Njoku was always a strong presence in the locker room, a willing blocker, and a mismatch in the end zone. However, there's no point in overpaying for an aging, injury-prone veteran when you have a budding superstar like Harold Fannin Jr. He needs as many targets as he can handle, and Njoku, while a good mentor, would take some of those away from him.
While he didn't always live up to the expectations as a former first-round pick, Njoku has always been a class act in Cleveland. He literally played through second-degree burns and was the type of team-first guy all locker rooms need. So, even if he ends up jumping ship to play for one of the Browns' most hated rivals, fans should still have nothing but respect and appreciation for what he did in Cleveland.