Browns need 'Chief' David Njoku to compete in the AFC

David Njoku needs to have a great 2023 season if the Cleveland Browns are going to find success
Chief Bomb
Chief Bomb / Joe Sargent/GettyImages
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The Kansas City Chiefs have dominated the NFL for the past five seasons (three AFC championships, and two Super Bowl Titles). How have they done it? Well, they’ve done a lot right, but it all starts with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Both are considered unanimously as the best in the league at their respective positions.

If the Cleveland Browns want to compete with the Chiefs of the AFC and the NFL, they will need their own Chief to step it up this year. Since David “Chief” Njoku has come into the league in 2017, the consensus is he’s been good, not great. 2022 was considered to be Njoku’s best year with 58 receptions, 628 yards, and four Touchdowns. Travis Kelce, meanwhile, accumulated 110 receptions, 1,338 yards, and 12 Touchdowns.

Now as a reader, you may say well it’s unfair to compare Njoku to Kelce and we would tend to agree. However, we at Dawg Pound Daily aren’t the first to bring this up.

In 2022, Njoku was asked if he thinks he and Deshaun Watson can get to the level of Mahomes and Kelce. He answered “Absolutely, First off those two are legendary. All the Kudos to them, Patrick and Trav and yeah, I feel like we can definitely do things similar to that as well. It’s only a matter of time, so I’m very excited.”

In 2022, the last four teams remaining (AFC and NFC Championship games) were the Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Francisco 49ers. What do three of those four teams have in common?

They have top five Tight Ends.

We're putting Dallas Goedert (Philadelphia Eagles) at No. 5 at the time of this writing. Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs) and George Kittle (San Francisco 49ers) are undoubtedly number one and number two in the league respectively.

Love him or hate him, “Chief” Njoku certainly is a polarizing figure for the Cleveland Browns. He has so much potential to be great.

He’s an exciting, youthful burst of energy at times. He has the potential to leap out of the stadium, hurdle two defenders, and run for fifty yards leaving fans saying “Whoa, where did that come from?” However, he's also been known to drop balls in critical situations.

Consistency will be key for Njoku this year. However, the clock is ticking. This is the year David, not 2024, not 2026. It’s this year. We need the Chief if we have any chance of conquering the Chiefs.

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