Brown's TE Njoku Wants to Be Traded

[oldgrappler]

David Njoku dumped his old agent and picked up Drew Rosenhaus who wasted no time in asking the Browns to trade him.  This took a lot of people by surprise.  The 6'4" 246 lbs Njoku was drafted in the first round of 2017.  He caught 36 passes in his first season and 56 passes in 2018.  He caught 5 passes in 2019 when he was out 10 games with a broken wrist.  His best asset is his athleticism.  At 6'4" he is a good target in the redzone.  His Achilles heal is his hands.  In 2018, his best season, he dropped 8 balls out of 64 catch-able targets earning last place among TEs.  

 

He came back at the end of last season but was in Kitchen's doghouse.  He had two drops and 5 catches in 2019.  But more to the point, he was a healthy scratch in two games.  Rumor had it that Kitchens and other coaches were not thrilled with his work ethic.  But, good for Njoku one would think, Kitchens was fired and Kevin Stefanski was hired.  Stefanski used a two TE set 57% of the plays he ran in Minnesota, which was the most in the NFL.  Stefanski has been described as "obsessed" with TEs.  The Browns recently picked up Njoku's 5th year option and seemed to have plans for the underachieving TE.  

 

The fly in the ointment for Njoku seems to be that the Browns also picked up free agent TE Austin Hooper from the Falcons and made him the highest paid TE in the NFL at $10.5 million a year.  It appears that Njoku thinks he ought to be the #1 TE on the team.  But his hands and his blocking are not up to par.  The Browns knew Njoku needed a lot of development when they drafted him.  With Stefanski's knowledge of how to get the most out of his TEs, it looked like Njoku's career would get a boost.  Everyone expected him to do well in this new system.  The only problem appears to be, that Njoku thinks he is better than he really is.  So, instead of playing second fiddle to Hooper, he is going to take his bow and go home, or at least to another team.  It remains to be seen if there is a team in the NFL that will be willing to give up as high a draft pick as the Browns are likely to demand.  

 

My advice for Njoku... stick around.  Stefanski just may make a star out of you.