Return to football pays off for Fells

Darren Fells has already reinvented himself once as a professional athlete, and now he’s trying to do it again with a different twist.

The 32-year-old tight end, in his first season with the Browns, was an all-state high school tight end in Fullerton, Calif. He was also a good basketball player and went to UC-Irvine on a basketball scholarship.

Fells was not selected in the 2008 NBA draft, but he played four seasons of professional basketball in Argentina, Mexico, France, Belgium and Finland. The framed jerseys from each team in Fells’ rec-room might make good conversation material. But he wasn’t enjoying himself. He wanted to get physical with opponents, so he contacted his brother, Daniel, a former tight end with the Patriots, Giants, Broncos and St. Louis Rams.

on defense is successful with my almost seven-foot length arms. I feel if the

quarterback throws it anywhere near my body, I’m coming down with it.”

Fells has 57 career catches. He caught 17 passes and scored three touchdowns in 16 games with the Lions last year.

“He can catch the ball,” head coach Hue Jackson said after practice Aug. 2. “He has the ability to do a lot of different things for us, and that’s why he’s here. He can block. He can catch. He knows the routes we run.

He’s a veteran player. He’s really good for that room.”

David Njoku is the starting tight end. Seth DeValve jumped from 10 catches as a rookie in 2016 to 33 last season and hopes to add to that total.

TIM PHILLIS — THE NEWS-HERALD Browns tight end Darren Fells was a pro basketball player before making it in the NFL.