Njoku continues to improve at TE
Browns see raw ability shaping into solid NFL player.
CLEVELAND — David Njoku was just 20 years old when the Browns traded two picks to move back into the first round to select him in 2017. Words like “freak” have followed him around since his college days. Draft analyst Dane Brugler tweeted in the run-up to the draft last year:
“Think the NFL likes Miami TE David Njoku?
“Text from a NFL scout: ‘Our TE coach said it’s the most upside he’s ever seen in a TE prospect.’ ”
These are the superlatives used to describe the Browns’ second-year tight end. There’s another, too, that just comes with the territory: raw.
“We have to keep in mind that this guy has a long and very, very bright future,” tight ends coach Greg Seamon said last week after the Browns wrapped up their mandatory minicamp.
“We expect continued improvement. That can never be an excuse, but it is what he came to us with very little experience. He was raw.”
Njoku caught 32 passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns in his rookie season, mostly on instinct. His athleticism jumped off the screen, even when he wasn’t doing his touchdown celebration, the Chief Slam.
Because of that, Njoku’s production came in flashes in 2017. The Browns’ game against the Chargers offered two such examples.
There was this touchdown catch where he lined up split out to the left (at the top of the screen).
Then there was this play with the Browns backed up against their own end zone.
There were also growing pains, some that led to painful moments for his quarterback, like this play in the third quarter against the Lions where he failed to pick up a blitzing defensive back.
Those ups and downs are nothing unexpected from a young player, especially at a position as demanding as tight end.
“I think for a young player that plays that kind of position week in and week out of blocking those outside linebackers and defensive ends, you wear down towards the end of the year,” head coach Hue Jackson said. “If anything I can say for David, that is what I saw.”
A rookie season in the NFL can feel a little like just surviving. Players go from their college seasons to training for the combine. Then they have to move to a new city. They deal with new-found wealth, new obligations and, oh yeah, there’s the football.
“The volume of plays and the volume of language in the NFL that they have to take command of is daunting for a lot of these guys,” Seamon said. “So, for the tight ends, because they’re involved in every area and because we use them as tight ends, we use them as slot receivers, we will occasionally use them as a single receiver and then also in the backfield, they have to understand the whole NFL offense and it’s a big task.”
So now that Njoku, like the other second-year players on the roster, has a real NFL offseason, one focused on playing in the NFL and playing in the Browns’ system, where does he need to improve?
“What he has to do is technical,” Seamon said. “He needs to continue to improve his footwork, for example, so that he’s not out of position, that he doesn’t end up on his heels when he should be on the balls of his feet or crosses the feet when he shouldn’t cross his feet, running routes at exactly the right depth, all of those are things that require repetition and attention to that detail and for someone who’s left college so early, they don’t have that base built.”
Seamon called Njoku a much more refined route runner already.
He also said he sees improvement in Njoku’s ability to focus on finding and catching the ball instead of focusing on what’s around him, something common in young receivers.
“As they develop and learn, especially if you have the height, length and ability to go up like David does to just focus on the ball and go up and get it,” Seamon said. “I see improvement there.”
And Seamon expects Njoku to be a problem for opponents in an area where the Browns could stand to create more problems.
“He should be a dominant receiver in the red zone,” he said, “especially in the higher throws, the back of the end zone.”
The types of plays a freak athlete can make.