It’s official, David Njoku of the Browns wants out. Either he realized that the franchise is going nowhere, Austin Hooper is going to catch all of the balls in 2020….uhhh…..2021, or both. Njoku has the best (or most marketed) agent in the business (Drew Rosenhaus) so if he wants out of Cleveland his agent is going to find a way. To add salt to the wound the Browns also took a TE in the draft this season (Harrison Bryant) in the fourth round.
So why would the Bengals want Njoku? Njoku dropped from league radars last season due to a wrist injury that held him to only 4 games. In 2018 Njoku caught 56 balls for 639 yards and 4 TDs. That is almost double from his rookie year. The knock is dropped balls but he doesn’t have the most accurate QB tossing him passes either. Mayfield had a good rookie campaign but he has often been off target or overall bad timing.
What if you give Njoku a sniper to work with? Burrow would love a nice big TE safety net to throw into sometimes when they aren’t going 5 WRs wide. CJ Uzomah only caught 27 passes for 242 yards. Tyler Eifert caught 43 passes for 436 yards and 3 TDs. So what we are getting is a younger, healthier (albeit the broken wrist), and hungry Tyler Eifert on an already exercised 5th year option contract. That means we would have Njoku for at least two seasons to pit him against Drew Sample.
What is it going to taken to get Njoku? He might only warrant a 5th or 6th rounder this late in the process. Most teams have set their rosters going into camp and the Browns don’t want to hold on too long in case he gets hurt. It is more of a buyers market right now and the Browns have to realize that. The bigger question is if the Bengals would make a deal with the Browns and vice versa. The last attempt was in 2017 with AJ McCarron and those idiots (Browns) couldn’t get the paperwork right.
Only time will tell if we are set at TE going into the season. Bengals fans have been clamoring for at least one more free agent. It doesn’t look like Warford is going to be signed and the defense is getting a little crowded. Njoku might be the only piece missing in the front offices 2020 chess board. Stay tuned Bengals fans.