Last season, David Njoku was close to leaving the Cleveland Browns after requesting a trade. Now, Njoku is locked in as the Browns’ tight end of the future and is set to become one of the best-paid players in his position.
According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Njoku and the Browns have agreed to a four-year extension that is worth $56.75 million. The 25-year-old player receives $28 million guaranteed and an annual salary of $14.2, which will make him among the top-five highest-paid TEs in the NFL. This comes after Cleveland placed a franchise tag on a University of Miami product earlier in the offseason.
Njoku himself confirmed the news in an appreciation post on Instagram.
“Truly Blessed through it all,” Njoku wrote. “Thank you to the Browns organization and The Haslam Family. Thankful for all my teammates past and present.”
The Browns selected David Njoku with the first-round pick in 2017 and expected him to be a long-term solution to the position for years to come. However, there were some doubts about that early on as Cedar Grove native proved wildly inconsistent. This, alongside the constant coaching changes in Cleveland, pushed him to the exit door in 2021.
Still, after the Browns elected not to trade him, Njoku went to work and had one of his best seasons as a pro. He caught 36 receptions for 475 yards and four touchdowns in 16 games in 2021. This made Cleveland even more confident about his upside and resulted in a deal that should make both sides quite happy.
