Latest news with #Njoku
USA Today
7 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Eagles' training camp: 10 matchups to watch during joint practice with the Browns
With the two joint practice sessions set to kick off for Philadelphia and Cleveland, we're looking at 10 key matchups to watch over the two days. After a successful and sold-out open training camp practice, the Eagles are preparing for an intense two-day joint practice session with the Cleveland Browns. The session will feature teams heading in two different trajectories, as Philadelphia is looking to repeat as Super Bowl champions. At the same time, Cleveland has five quarterbacks under contract, and the shadow of rookie sensation Shedeur Sanders is looming over the franchise. With the two joint practice sessions set to kick off, we're looking at 10 key matchups to watch over the two days. Vic Fangio vs. Shedeur Sanders Sanders, a 2025 fifth-round pick, seized the moment on Friday night, leading the Browns to a 30-10 win against the Carolina Panthers as he threw for a pair of touchdowns, completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards, and scrambled for 19 yards. He's a ratings bonanza and will get a challenge against the Eagles ' top-ranked defense. Browns WR Jerry Jeudy vs. Eagles CB Kelee Ringo/Adoree Jackson/Jakorian Bennett Jeudy is coming off a breakout campaign in 2024, during which he earned his first selection as a Pro Bowler while recording 90 catches (on 145 targets) for 1,229 yards and four touchdowns in 17 regular-season outings. In his second season with Cleveland, the 2020 first-rounder will give Eagles cornerback a surgical route-runner to compete against. Philadelphia now has a trio vying for the starting spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell. TE David Njoku vs. Eagles safeties Njoku missed the final two regular-season games of the 2024 campaign due to a knee injury and then skipped voluntary OTAs. The 2017 first-round pick, who turns 29 in July, figures to be extra motivated as he heads into a contract year, and with the Browns after logging 64 catches, for 505 yards and five touchdowns on 97 targets through 11 games played. Njoku is a big, physical tight end who'll give Andrew Mukuba and Sydney Brown plenty of problems. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts vs. Browns' improved defense The Browns are coming off a 3-14 season, but Myles Garrett now has plenty of help after the team emphasized defense in the draft. They took defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 5 overall and linebacker Carson Schwesinger at No. 33 overall as a second-round pick. Browns DE Myles Garrett vs. Eagles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata Back in March, the all-world pass rusher agreed on a record contract extension that averages $40 million per year and includes $123.5 million in guaranteed money, making the star defensive end the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. This past season, Garrett became the first player to record 100 career sacks before his 29th birthday since sacks became an official stat in 1982. He was named the AP Defensive Player of the Year for the 2023 season, and his 14 sacks in 2024 ranked second in the NFL. With Garrett likely to be held out of Friday's preseason game, Tuesday and Wednesday offer the only likely matchups with the NFL's best offensive tackle duo. Browns DT Mason Graham vs. Eagles Center Cam Jurgens The fifth pick in the 2025 NFL draft, Graham played three seasons at Michigan, appearing in 39 career games. Throughout his collegiate career, Graham recorded 108 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, nine sacks, three passes defensed, one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble. He'll get a massive test in the Eagles' Pro Bowl center. Browns' rookie MLB Carson Schwesinger vs. Eagles RB Saquon Barkley Schwesinger led the Browns' defense with a total of six tackles, including four solo tackles and two combined tackles during the preseason opener. The tackling machine will deal with Saquon Barkley and the Eagles' trio of running backs. Browns CB Denzel Ward vs. Eagles wide receivers Ward is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and enters 2025 healthy after he earned Pro Bowl honors last year after tallying a career-high 19 passes defensed. He projects to start again in 2025 alongside Greg Newsome and Martin Emerson. He'll deal with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and the Eagles' talented wide receivers. DB Grant Delpit vs. Eagles TE Dallas Goedert One of the best young safeties in the NFL, Delpit finished the 2024 regular season with 111 tackles (68 solo), including 1.0 sacks, one pass defense, and one fumble recovery across 16 games. He'll deal with a talented and athletic tight end, Dallas Goedert. Eagles OC Kevin Patullo vs. Browns DC Jim Schwartz Schwartz's defensive scheme is built on an aggressive, attacking style, often utilizing a 4-3 base defense with a strong emphasis on pressuring the quarterback and playing man coverage. Schwartz prefers creating disruption and turnovers by having his defensive linemen penetrate gaps and his defensive backs play aggressively to shut down passing lanes. Schwartz will provide a nice measuring stick for Eagles first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
NBC Sports
11-08-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
David Njoku fantasy football preview 2025: Stats, season outlook, predictions
Rotoworld Staff, David Njoku 2025 Fantasy Football Snapshot Njoku missed six games last season but posted five touchdowns in 11 starts. Four-QB competition clouds mid-range TE1 trust. Top-five ceiling, but lots of uncertainty here. Get personalized fantasy football insights based on your league settings with FantasyLife+. Your league is unique, your advice should be too. Head to and use code ROTO20 for 20% off. 2024: Coming off the first 100-target season of his career, Njoku quickly fell into the injury nexus, missing three weeks after Week 1 and three of Cleveland's final four games of the season. In-between he showed us exactly what we wanted, with five touchdowns in 11 starts and four 10-target games. A great, if incomplete, season for the veteran tight end. What's changed: With Deshaun Watson hurt, Njoku emerged in the middle of the season with Jameis Winston. But Watson is likely to miss this season and Winston is gone, leaving Njoku's fantasy fate in the hands of a four-quarterback competition that could contain four different varieties of an unsatisfying season. It makes it hard to trust Njoku as a mid-range TE1 despite his production track record over the past two seasons. Outlook: The Njoku experience last year was a perfect encapsulation of it being over and then it being back – over and over again. Know that when you get on the ride, but there is a top-five ceiling here, particularly if Njoku gets to work with Joe Flacco again and the two connect like they did in late 2023. **Projections from Spotlight Sports Group Go to: All players | QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Can TE David Njoku return to Pro Bowl form?
Training camp is almost here for the Browns. The rookies have already arrived, and the veterans are not too far away from their July 22 report date. The quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers have already been previewed heading into training camp. Now, the attention turns to the tight ends, led by a former Pro Bowler who's trying to rebound from an injury-plagued season. Considering the love both Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, who coached the tight ends a year ago, have for multiple tight end sets, it stands to be a very important position group on the offense. Time to dive into what Cleveland has at the position. Cleveland Browns tight ends Brendan Bates Sal Cannella Harold Fannin Jr.* David Njoku Blake Whiteheart (* — denotes rookie) Into the numbers: Cleveland Browns TEs The 11 games Njoku played in 2024 were his second-lowest for a season since he came into the league in 2017, behind only his four-game 2019 season. Despite that, he still had 97 targets and 64 catches, both the second most in his career behind his Pro Bowl 2023 season. His 505 receiving yards were the fourth most in a season for him. Fannin, a Canton native, was the nation's FBS Division I college leader in receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,555) at Bowling Green State University in 2024. Whiteheart's 2024 stats — nine targets, six catches, 51 yards, one touchdown — account for all of his career stats since he came into the league in 2023. Bates was targeted once as a rookie in 2024. It's the only other NFL statistic accumulated by any tight end on the roster besides Njoku and Whiteheart. What they're saying: Cleveland Browns TEs Browns tight ends coach Christian Jones on Njoku, from June 12: "He had a tough year last year. A lot of things going on with injuries, and I think he fought through them all well. He's always going to try and be out on the field and that's something that I've heard and seen expressed from him. And, yeah, it's visible frustration when you ask him how the last year went, that's the first thing you talk about is injuries, how it held him back and what he wants to do as a player — be out there every game that he can and play as many snaps as he can. I think that's something that he's aiming to do this year and I'm excited to see it." Fannin on his NFL potential, from May 9: 'I think my ceiling is high. I mean, I'm going to keep obviously being coachable, just keep learning. That's really it. Just keep taking everything in and just keep wanting to grow really. So I think I got a high ceiling.' Jones on approach to Fannin as a rookie, from June 12: "Oh, it's going to be all pushing. You got to push him and see where, at some point rookies always hit a wall, with the installs, with the amount of defenses they see. So you try to push them up into that wall and then find new ways to teach them, new ways to help them learn, new ways to retain information so that way they can keep pushing past it. I think that's something that always happens, guys — once you get the install whatever — five, six guys start to, it starts to flood their head, you got to find ways to bring them back, think through things clearly and then approach it maybe a different way." Jones on future of the tight end position in NFL: "I think as the game evolves, as nutrition gets better, weight training continues to grow and players, obviously guys are getting bigger, faster, stronger. So I think you're just going to see a lot more athletic players out there, and I think you're going to see guys running a lot more unique routes. I think we've got, there's a lot of tight ends in the class this year that are really athletic and go out and line up that number one and run routes and win, and Harold's done that in college as well. So I think you're going to see a lot of tight ends that could be efficient receivers both in the slot attached and even out at number one versus press." Training camp analysis: Cleveland Browns TEs This is a big year for Njoku, who is entering the final year of his contract. The Browns have talked about him being a "core piece" before, but there remains no word on a potential extension to this point. What they want for the present is that good health in 2025 means a return to the form Njoku showed in 2023, when he set career highs in multiple categories while earning his first Pro Bowl berth. Fannin, though, is clearly a nod toward a future that will eventually not include Njoku. The Canton McKinley High School graduate is a different type of tight end than Njoku, who has grown as a strong blocker over his first eight NFL seasons. Fannin has some flexibility in his skill set which makes him a player who could potentially find himself aligned out wide in many formations. Whiteheart easily projects as the No. 3 tight end, with Bates an intriguing prospect who could find a way onto the roster should the Browns keep four tight ends. Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@ Read more about the Browns at Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns 2025 camp position preview: Can healthy David Njoku lift TEs?
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Browns' TE Cracks ESPN's Elite Rankings
Browns' TE Cracks ESPN's Elite Rankings originally appeared on Athlon Sports. We're just a week away from rookies reporting to Cleveland Browns training camp on July 18 and 11 days from the veterans and the rest of the team arriving. Advertisement While the team figures out its quarterback situation, star tight end David Njoku will be paying close attention, too. The 2023 Pro Bowler will wait anxiously to find out who will be tossing him the ball in 2025 as he enters the final season of his four-year, $54.75 million deal. While he works toward a new deal, either in Cleveland or elsewhere, he'll have the honor of appearing on ESPN's list of the top 10 tight ends to gloat about. ESPN and Jeremy Fowler surveyed NFL executives, coaches and scouts to come up with the list. "Njoku realized his enormous potential in 2023 with 882 yards, six touchdowns and a Pro Bowl nod despite playing with four different quarterbacks," Fowler wrote. "The 2024 season was harder for Njoku, whose yards per catch dipped from 10.9 to 7.9. But he posted a respectable 64 catches and five touchdowns while playing in one of the league's worst offenses." Advertisement His production is impressive based on what the rest of the offense has been dealing with, especially at the quarterback position. One NFL executive is impressed with how his game has developed. "He's figured it out," an NFL personnel evaluator said. "Before he was just an athlete with physical tools, but he's evolved into a pro tight end who had more nuance to his game as a route runner and more coverage awareness." This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cleveland Browns Tight End David Njoku Ranked Outside Top 10
Cleveland Browns Tight End David Njoku Ranked Outside Top 10 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Cleveland Browns have an interesting situation at tight end. David Njoku will enter his ninth season in the league at a cost of nearly $11.5 million to the team. Last season, the University of Miami product posted 505 yards on 64 catches with five touchdowns in just 11 games. Advertisement The former Hurricane was plagued by ankle, knee and hamstring injuries that kept him out of six games and slowed him in several appearances. It also didn't help that there's been a revolving door at quarterback in Cleveland over the past two seasons while Deshaun Watson continues to be injured. Pro Football Focus ranked Njoku at No. 15 in their list of the top tight ends as we approach 2025. 15. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns "After a breakout 2023 season in which he caught 88 passes for 975 yards, Njoku dealt with injuries and a shuffling quarterback room in Cleveland on his way to a career-low 64.0 PFF overall grade this past season. If he can stay healthy with stability at the quarterback position in 2025, expect the athletic big man to flirt with 1,000 yards for the first time in his career." Advertisement Njoku made the Pro Bowl in 2023 after 882 yards on 81 catches and six touchdowns. It's that kind of form that he needs to return to so the Browns can justify that salary. He also enters 2025 with only void years left on his deal. Match that with the fact that the Browns drafted Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr. this season in the third round, and Njoku could be sharing playing time with the rookie. It's a complicated formula that might see Njoku's days numbered in Cleveland. Related: Browns 2025 Salary Cap Situation 'Flexible' Related: Browns' Rookie Defensive Tackle Impressing Early This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
