May 31, 2023

Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku is looking to build on a solid 2022 season. The 26-year-old played in 14 games last year, catching a career-high 58 passes. He added 628 yards and four touchdowns, closing out the season as the TE10 overall, which was his best finish since 2018. To his credit, Njoku likely would have performed even better if not for inconsistent play at the quarterback position. Jacoby Brissett was purely mediocre during his time under center, and Deshaun Watson struggled significantly upon his return from suspension. Nevertheless, Njoku had a strong role with the Browns, running routes near the goal line (his 20 red-zone targets ranked second among tight ends) while also serving as a short-range safety valve (he had an ADOT of 4.8 and catchable target rate of 88.8 percent). In short, both Brissett and Watson looked his way frequently, often relying on him rather than Amari Cooper or Donovan Peoples-Jones when they needed to move the chains. Cleveland didn't bring in a whole lot of competition this offseason (Elijah Moore isn't a glaring threat), and the Browns' offense should only improve now that Watson has a normal offseason. Don't lose sight of the fact that Watson missed more than one-and-a-half seasons due to his holdout and suspension, then was thrust into action late in 2022 with a difficult schedule and unfavorable winter weather conditions in cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. A full offseason of sunny practices should bode well for Watson, which will in turn lead to success for someone like Njoku. He currently ranks as RotoBaller's TE11 and has an ADP of 105, making him a very sound low-end TE1 option heading into the new campaign.--Andersen Pickard