The Browns and David Njoku are in active extension talks (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The two sides only have until July 15 to get a deal done, but all parties are confident that they’ll come to terms.
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The Browns used the franchise tag on Njoku, choosing to cuff him despite also having Austin Hooper at the time. The 25-year-old (26 in July) could now command a deal worth upwards of $10MM — something the Browns are reportedly willing to do.
“I’ve been here (Cleveland) for four years going on five,” Njoku said last summer. “I don’t know anything different. I want to keep being here.”
For now, the Browns have Njoku at a $10.8MM cap figure in 2022, a number they hope to tamp down.
Njoku, a 2017 first-round pick, enjoyed his best year in 2018 when he notched 56 grabs for 639 yards and four majors. Despite not putting up eye-popping numbers during his five seasons with the team, he has ultimately shown a willingness to stick around. In 2021, Njoku finished with 36 catches for 475 yards and four touchdowns.
When did touchdowns become ‘majors’?
I guess that makes sense as a term when you get four of them in a year.
Wow, a contract extension upwards of $10 million per for a player who had his best year, albeit pretty mediocre in 2018 (a long long time ago), because of his “willingness to stick around”? The Browns are throwing around money as if the 2022 season was the end of football as we know it.
An extension for a guy with an injury history who has only had more than 36 catches in a season once and it was four years ago. 60 catches total in his last three seasons. Sure why not throw $10 million a year at him. Browns are an absolute joke.