BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – When the new league year hit in March and the fifth-year option on his rookie contract became guaranteed, David Njoku posted gif of Leonardo DiCaprio raising a champagne glass on his Twitter account.
He had reason to celebrate becoming $6 million richer.
It also signaled something else to the 2017 first-round draft pick.
“It showed me that obviously they want me to be here for a certain reason and it excited me that I got to stay here and play with my teammates,” Njoku said Friday morning. “I have great teammates so that got me excited and, there’s a lot of work to be done.”
The business of football can get very messy. Last summer it did for Njoku, who has had a change of heart over the last 14 months.
“We're going to leave last year in the past, but what I can say is I'm in a way positive mindset, a lot more positive this year,” Njoku said. “I'm playing for myself, playing for my teammates, playing for the team, it's a lot easier to work hard that way.”
He recently fired agent Drew Rosenhaus, who was hired to facilitate his exit from Cleveland last summer, and re-hired Malki Kawa in the hopes of working out a new contract, but talks have yet to get started.
“I've been here for four years, knocking on five, I don't really know anything different,” Njoku said. “I'd like to stay here.”
Njoku has suffered through the worst of times with the Browns – a winless rookie season, and now he wants to continue to enjoy the best of times with the team coming off their best playoff season in 26 years.
It is that momentum he hopes to continue to ride, hopefully, into February.
“Along with a couple of my teammates, we’ve seen both sides of the spectrum,” Njoku said. “The lowest of the low and now we have the opportunity to do something very special. So we’ve got to take it day by day, we can’t really look ahead to February, we’re still in August, so just focus on today’s practice and tomorrow focus on the next practice.”
To earn a February trip to Los Angeles requires a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work.
Njoku has put in the time refining and perfecting his craft from workouts with quarterback Baker Mayfield to attending tight end university this offseason, and the work is showing up on the field.
“He’s put on some really good weight,” Mayfield said. “He’s a large individual to begin with, and that comes with a unique skill set to where he’s able to run. And the thing we’ve told David is if he sprints and runs, people are gonna be scared for the vertical routes that he can bring to the table, so we’re working with him on that and he has the natural ability to high point the ball, so we’re working on that as well and continuing to grow and expand on that.”
The loss of fourth-string tight end Stephen Carlson for the season last weekend amplifies Njoku’s importance this season in Kevin Stefanski’s tight end happy offense.
Stefanski requires his tight ends to block, in addition to catching passes.
Njoku has learned to embrace it.
“I love it now,” Njoku said. “I really got to enjoy blocking and doing all of that dirty work. It kind of excited me towards the end of last year and now I really enjoy it.”
Stefanski has noticed.
“Dave works really hard on his craft. It shows up in his run blocking, his pass blocking, his route running and his catching,” Stefanski said. “I think he is an example of a guy that has been willing to work on his craft, and I think he is getting better.”
With Pro Bowler Austin Hooper and Harrison Bryant in the room, combined with the plethora of receivers and of course the dynamic duo rolling out of the backfield, touches are likely to be inconsistent, and based on that week’s opponent.
Those touches are precious for a player entering free agency come the offseason, but Njoku is committed to doing whatever is asked of him.
“Whatever any of us do that makes us win a game, we’re happy,” Njoku said. “So, whatever it takes just to continue to win is what we’re capable of doing and what we will do.”
