Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
New York Jets
Washington Football Team
The Browns, currently sitting at 4-3 and in third place in the AFC North, are not expected to swing a major deal in advance of Tuesday’s trade deadline, according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Cabot does not anticipate the club acquiring a high-profile talent or trading one away.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham became the subject of trade speculation even before his first season in Cleveland was over, and those rumors have continued to crop up ever since. The Browns have done their best to quash all such rumblings, and Beckham will likely stay put at least through the end of the 2021 campaign. After all, he is dealing with a painful sprain in his right shoulder, and he is still owed $9MM over the rest of the season, so even if Cleveland were interesting in making a trade, there are obvious hurdles.
Plus, the Browns have every reason to keep Beckham around. Although he and QB Baker Mayfield have yet to develop a consistent rapport, OBJ continues to get open and remains an elite talent, so it would be surprising to see a Cleveland outfit that has postseason aspirations make that type of trade.
The same logic applies to tight ends David Njoku and Austin Hooper. Neither player has offered much production in 2021 — aside from a monster Week 5 game for Njoku that accounted for over half of his 2021 receiving yards and his only touchdown — but the hope is that the passing game will improve as the season goes on, just as it did last year. Njoku is playing on an expiring contract and requested a trade on several occasions last summer, but his most recent comments on the matter suggested that he would like to remain in Cleveland, and Cabot expects both him and Hooper to still be Browns once the deadline has passed.
Speaking of Mayfield, Cabot says the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft will likely require offseason surgery on his injured shoulder. His injury has complicated extension talks, and now, if an extension is reached, it probably won’t happen until after the season. Mayfield is under club control through 2022 via the fifth-year option of his rookie deal, which the Browns exercised earlier this year.
In related news, Cleveland does have starting RT Jack Conklin back in action for today’s critical matchup with the Steelers. Conklin had missed the prior two games with a knee injury.
It sounds like David Njoku wants to stick with the Browns after all. Despite his previous trade demands (and flip-flops on the matter), the tight end says he wants to move forward with Cleveland
“I’ve been here (Cleveland) for four years going on five,” Njoku said on Friday. “I don’t know anything different. I want to keep being here.”
Njoku pushed for a trade last summer and doubled down prior to the 2020 trade deadline. He also made it sound like he wanted out as recently as February. However, it seems like Njoku is now in a good place with the Browns.
The Browns signed Austin Hooper to a big contract last year and drafted Harrison Bryant, which reduced Njoku’s role in the offense. He finished out 2020 with just 19 catches for 213 yards and one touchdown. That was a far cry from his best work in 2018 — 56 grabs for 639 yards and four TDs. In between, he lost most of 2019 to injury.
While he’s shown plenty of flashes of potential, the U of M product has yet to live up to his first-round status. But, despite all the drama and the crowded TE chart, the Browns still opted to exercise his fifth-year option. For now, he’s got one year and ~$6MM to go on his deal.
There’s been a lot of drama with David Njoku and the Browns over the past year. The young tight end requested a trade last July, then rescinded that request in August. In October, he once again changed his mind and asked to be traded around the deadline.
No trade materialized, with Cleveland reportedly not wanting to deal him. Just when it seemed like everything had calmed down, Njoku fanned the flames once again in February by responding very cryptically to an interviewer asking about his future with the team.
However, it seems like things have now been patched over. The Browns have “weathered the storm” and Njoku is now “in a good place with the franchise,” a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Cleveland signed Austin Hooper to a big contract and drafted Harrison Bryant, which reduced Njoku’s role and made him unhappy. The Browns drafted the Miami product 29th overall back in 2017. While he’s shown plenty of flashes of potential, he hasn’t lived up to first-round status.
In 2018 he appeared on the verge of breaking out, racking up 639 yards and four touchdowns. Injuries then limited him to only four games in 2019, and he caught only 19 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite all the drama, Njoku is slated to make a little over $6MM this season after Cleveland picked up his fifth-year option last year. It’ll be the final year of his rookie deal. Njoku was drafted very young so he’s still only 24, and has all the theoretical potential in the world. 2021 is shaping up to be a make or break year for him.
Following the Vikings’ decision to part ways with Kyle Rudolph, he is a first-time free agent. The veteran tight end would not mind linking up with a longtime Vikings assistant.
Rudolph is interested in joining the Browns, with Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com noting the 10-year pass catcher would “love” to rejoin Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. Stefanski was with Minnesota for Rudolph’s first nine seasons. The reigning NFL Coach of the Year worked as the Vikings’ OC in 2019 and served as Rudolph’s position coach from 2014-15.
The Browns gave Austin Hooper a $10.5MM-AAV deal at free agency’s outset last year and have David Njoku under contract for 2021, having picked up the former first-rounder’s fifth-year option. However, Njoku did not play a major role in Stefanski’s offense last season.
Over the past two seasons, Njoku has just 24 receptions. The four-year Browns contributor is sounding like the team may move on from him (Twitter link), potentially via trade or release. He requested a trade last year but moved off that stance, but his future in Cleveland still appears murky. Since Njoku is a 2017 first-round pick, his fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only. A Njoku release would create just more than $6MM in cap space for the Browns.
Far and away the leading touchdown scorer (among tight ends) in Vikings history, Rudolph scored six in Stefanski’s offense in 2019 and added a playoff walk-off soon after. The two-time Pro Bowler, however, has not eclipsed 400 receiving yards since the 2018 season. At 31, the 6-foot-6 talent still figures to receive interest. He was involved in trade rumors during the 2019 draft and ahead of the 2020 trade deadline.
Before he was the first overall pick of the Cardinals in the 2019 NFL Draft, Kyler Murray was the ninth overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Oakland A’s. Then he went on to win the Heisman Trophy, causing him to rocket up NFL draft boards. Even after winning the Heisman Murray initially was reported to be pursuing baseball over football, but obviously that changed when it became clear just how high he’d be drafted. We haven’t heard a ton about his baseball passions since, but he made it clear he isn’t over the game in interviews this past week. “I would love to” play baseball again one day Murray said on The Pat McAfee Show, via Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic. “I think it’s still there because I’ve been doing it my whole life. It wasn’t like I have to turn this off to be elite at football.”
When asked if he could see himself playing football and baseball at the same time one day soon, Murray said “I hope so. I hope so. I mean, I would love to. I think that would be good for everybody … I think it is tough because I play quarterback.” He also added that walking away from Oakland was “definitely the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.” The Cardinals likely aren’t as enthused about the possibility, and it’s specifically in his contract that he’s not allowed to play baseball. Maybe when it comes time for Murray to get a contract extension from Arizona, he’ll look to negotiate a clause that allows him to try his hand at baseball? It’s certainly fun to think about, and I think every fan would be hoping he can become the next Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders.
Here’s more from around the league as we officially turn our attention toward the offseason:
Saints head coach Sean Payton has said his team has no interest in trading star receiver Michael Thomas, though Thomas’ camp was recently said to be looking for potential deals. There has been no movement towards a Thomas trade, and whether that’s because New Orleans has no interest in dealing him or because the club has not received an offer it likes, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says Thomas will stay put.
With the trade deadline two days away, let’s round up a few more rumors on players who could be on the move:
David Njoku has changed his mind once again. The Browns’ tight end originally requested to be traded back in July, only to rescind that request in August.
He has apparently now flipped back the other way, as a source told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com that Njoku once again wants to be dealt. Kay Cabot writes that so far the Browns haven’t been inclined to trade him, but that could change if they get a good offer. The trade deadline is November 3rd, two weeks from tomorrow. The 29th overall pick of the 2017 draft, Njoku had three catches for 50 yards in Cleveland’s opener before going down with a knee injury.
He missed the next three games, but has been back for the last couple, only racking up two catches for 13 yards the last two weeks. The Browns like to use a lot of multiple tight end sets, but the offseason signing of Austin Hooper and drafting of Harrison Bryant in the fourth-round have made Njoku more expendable.
The Miami product has all the physical skills in the world, but he’s been unable to harness his athletic potential consistently. He looked to be on the verge of a breakout in 2018 when he started a full season and had 56 catches for 639 yards and four touchdowns, but a broken wrist limited him to just four games last year.
The new regime has no real ties to Njoku, and there’s been a clear rift for a while. They picked up his fifth-year option this past offseason, which is only guaranteed for injury.
David Njoku is back. The Browns announced this morning that they’ve activated the tight end from the injured reserve.
The 24-year-old suffered a knee injury during Cleveland’s season opener, and he was subsequently placed on IR. He was designated for return earlier this week, and coach Kevin Stefanski indicated that Njoku would see the field sooner than later. The tight end had three receptions for 50 yards and one touchdown in Week 1, surpassing some of the totals he compiled during his injury-plagued 2019 campaign.
Njoku requested a trade back in July, only to rescind it in early August. While the former first-rounder sits behind free agent addition Austin Hooper on the depth chart (and has to battle the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, and Kareem Hunt for targets), Njoku should still see a role in the offense going forward.
Let’s check out some more IR/activation notes from around the NFL…
The Browns have placed tight end David Njoku on the injured reserve list, per a club announcement. The good news is that Njoku is expected to miss only three weeks with a with a sprained MCL, according to a source who spoke with ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).
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Njoku reeled in three catches for 50 yards before exiting Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. His one-yard touchdown catch represented their only score in the 38-6 drumming. The Browns will now lean even more on No. 1 TE Austin Hooper, with support from fourth-round rookie Harrison Bryant and Stephen Carlson.
Njoku missed more than half of the 2019 season with a broken wrist. Now, he’s out for at least the next few games against the Bengals, the Washington Football Team, and the Cowboys. He’ll be eligible to return on Oct. 11, when the Browns face the Colts in Cleveland.
The 24-year-old requested a trade in July, only to rescind it in early August. With a backseat to Hooper, Njoku is under contract through 2021, with manageable salaries of $1.76MM this season and $6MM next year. When he returns, he’ll look to get back to the form he exhibited in 2018 when he tallied 56 grabs for 639 yards and four scores.