Playing Time for Cleveland Tight Ends
When Stefanski arrived in 2020, he leaned hard on multi-tight end sets. That year, Austin Hooper and Harrison Bryant logged over 55% of the team’s offensive snaps, while Njoku was at 38.5%. As the years went on, along with the trade for Deshaun Watson, the offense started to spread out more with fewer heavy sets and fewer tight ends on the field.
Here's a look at the playing time for the top three tight ends for Kevin Stefanski's offense:
Year | Name | Games Played | Snaps | Snap % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Austin Hooper | 13 | 684 | 64.2% |
2020 | Harrison Bryant | 15 | 591 | 55.5% |
2020 | David Njoku | 13 | 410 | 38.5% |
2021 | Austin Hooper | 16 | 717 | 64.8% |
2021 | David Njoku | 16 | 670 | 60.5% |
2021 | Harrison Bryant | 16 | 402 | 36.3% |
2022 | David Njoku | 14 | 817 | 69.6% |
2022 | Harrison Bryant | 17 | 564 | 48% |
2022 | Pharaoh Brown | 13 | 202 | 17.2% |
2023 | David Njoku | 16 | 970 | 78.2% |
2023 | Harrison Bryant | 17 | 406 | 32.7% |
2023 | Jordan Akins | 17 | 231 | 18.6% |
2024 | David Njoku | 11 | 589 | 49.9% |
2024 | Jordan Akins | 17 | 456 | 38.6% |
2024 | Blake Whiteheart | 11 | 207 | 17.5% |
While Njoku’s snap share steadily increased over that same span, the TE2 and TE3 roles began to split or shrink. Bryant had the most inconsistent amount of snaps as he filled in for others due to injuries throughout his time with Cleveland. Akins and Whiteheart were used more selectively, often for red zone packages, rotational run blockers, or filling in for the injured Njoku.
With Stefanski expected to be going back to what we saw earlier in his Cleveland career, expect to see more tight ends on the field this season. Since Fannin seems to be the clear-cut TE2, something like a 50% snap share is very much on the table, especially if he earns trust in the blocking department.