David Njoku

David Njoku caught his lone target for a seven-yard gain in a 24-13 win over the Jaguars in Friday's preseason game.

Fantasy Impact

Njoku started and was the recipient of Deshaun Watson's only completion across his three series. After signing a big contract extension in the offseason, Njoku could be in line for a breakout season in 2022 after Austin Hooper was released earlier in the offseason.

Zac Jackson of the Athletic reports the Browns are expecting David Njoku to "take a major step forward" this season.

Fantasy Impact

2022 will be David Njoku's sixth year in the NFL, all with the Browns. Njoku's best fantasy finish was TE9 in 2018, yet every other season he has finished outside of the Top 23 at the position. The Browns just signed Njoku to a massive extension, the likes of which Dalton Schultz and others are currently trying to replicate for themselves, and it seems as though they are paying him based on potential rather than results. Njoku is a nice late round sleeper or deep bench stash simply based on his athleticism, age, and QB Deshaun Watson returning eventually.

David Njoku and the Cleveland Browns have come to an agreement on a four-year, $56.75M contract extension.

Fantasy Impact

Njoku gets $28 million guaranteed and his average of $14.1875M per year makes him the fifth-highest paid tight end. These talks have been in the works for a while and the two sides finally came to an agreement on Friday. The former first-round pick has shown flashes during his first five seasons in the league, but he has yet to top 640 receiving yards in a single year. This contract extension should show the Browns belief in Njoku and he should be a huge part of Cleveland's offense moving forward.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the Cleveland Browns and David Njoku are in active talks in regards to a contract extension after the TE received the franchise tag earlier this offseason.

Fantasy Impact

Njoku, still just 25 years old, has failed to live up to fantasy managers expectations during his five year career after being selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Njoku finished 2018 as a low end TE1, but outside of that campaign he has been unable to finish higher than TE22 in any other season. After his breakout season in 2018, Njoku played in only 4 games in 2019 and then has spent the past two seasons splitting TE reps with Austin Hooper, who signed with Tennessee earlier this off-season. TE’s sharing time on in any offense severely limits each players fantasy upside, so with Hooper gone and Deshaun Watson as his new quarterback, Njoku should be viewed as a late round sleeper to target in fantasy drafts with low end TE1, high end TE2 upside.

The Cleveland Browns have placed the franchise tag on tight end David Njoku.

Fantasy Impact

This isn't a total surprise as there were reports that Njoku was interested in returning to Cleveland this offseason. While it could be a good real football fit for Njoku and the Browns, it's not an ideal situation for fantasy managers. Many had dreams of Njoku becoming the featured option for an offense. But remaining in Cleveland will likely have him splitting time with someone given Kevin Stefanski's preference to involve multiple tight ends. It remains to be seen who will be sharing time with Njoku in Cleveland, as there are rumblings that fellow TE Austin Hooper could be removed from the roster. There's also still a chance the team reaches a long-term agreement with Njoku. Whatever the case, despite the money coming his way, it's difficult to get overly excited about Njoku's fantasy prospects as things stand. He's currently TE35 in our expert consensus rankings.