Despite his strong season, David Njoku has regressed as a blocker

The Cleveland Browns tight end is having a solid season but his run blocking has not improved, despite what some will say.

Narratives. If someone wants to believe them, they will. Do they need to have facts, stats, or science behind it? Nope, just a desire to believe that the narrative is they’re true. It’s the reason why every March I predict the Cleveland Guardians will be in the World Series. I’m gonna be right again one day. It’s that belief that something is true, even if it isn’t, that has got people saying the Cleveland Browns’ very own, David Njoku, has improved as a blocker.

Sorry, folks. You’re going to need to provide your work on that math problem for me to believe it. Simply put, Njoku is not only not a better blocker at this point in his career, but he’s also actually dropped off.

Now, he hasn’t fallen from Wyatt Teller to Jim Pyne (deep-cut reference there), but he is not blocking as well this year as he has in the past. Now, the eye test is a very powerful tool that really shouldn’t hold the power it does. Two people can see one thing and walk away with completely different impressions.

The same can be said for PFF. They over-value specific aspects of a player, which in turn over-values them as a whole. For instance, they have Njoku as the 2nd best-rated tight end in the world. Some are going to scream “ETHAN POCIC” at me, without realizing just how bad PFF can be at times in evaluating players.

How do I know this? Taysom Hill is the 10th-ranked tight end. PFF on its own is not a great indicator of anything. Though, when it comes to gauging things like blocking, it is unfortunately the only tool we have.

What does PFF tell us about David Njoku’s blocking for the Cleveland Browns?

So, according to PFF, Njoku has the 9th most plays at his position where he’s been asked to run block. Of those nine, only three others, Cole Kmet, Hunter Henry, and Dallas Goedert can be considered a starting tight end. Everyone else above Njoku would be considered blocking specialists, as they don’t often go in on passing plays.

So of those four men, Njoku, Kmet, Henry, and Goedert, Njoku is the second-best blocker out of all of them, behind Kmet. This means that Njoku is blocking well, right? Incorrect. What it actually means is that the amount one plays does not constitute playing well.

Mark Andrews, George Kittle, and Dawson Knox have fewer plays where they run-block but have better scores and better grades. So we can safely assume that Stefanski is (or was) misusing Njoku to a degree. This may be why Stefanski went and got a new tight end mid-season, but more on that later.

Njoku is declining from season to season and in the season as well. Njoku’s best run-blocking season (according to PFF) came in 2018 when he posted a grade of 65.4.

This year, he’s currently at 61.1, which is mid-tier at best. It gets worse, as his seasonal grades have dropped over the last five games. Over the last five games, he’s averaging just 57.48, peaking with a grade of 65.2 against New England and bottoming out against Tampa Bay with a 56.2.

Over the last five games, he’s been used less and less until Tampa Bay. He was seeing just about 30 snaps per game through the Atlanta game, and over the last five games, he’s averaging about 17 per game. What’s changed? It may have to do with the addition of Pharoh Brown. While Njoku has been banged up (he’s out for Houston), it was the arrival of Brown that limited Njoku’s snaps.

Why would the Browns limit Njoku’s snaps if he was such a force at blocking? Because he wasn’t.

Yes, Njoku is graded out at the #2 spot among tight ends, a spot he does not deserve. But he’s #18 among tight ends for blocking grades. In fact, Harrison Bryant is #22, with a 60.3 to Njoku’s 61.4. No one is saying Bryant is a great run blocker, yet they’re putting up the same performances.

As a pass-catcher, Njoku is playing as fine as ever. He’s still not dominating games, nor has he improved his drop issue but he’s fine. He’s a fine starter. He’s been in the league for six years, however, and he’s never put it all together. Some will say that’s because it takes tight ends longer to develop.

The best the league has to offer, Kittle, Andrews, and Travis Kelce, all broke out in year two. One of the better young tight ends, Kyle Pitts, blew up as a rookie. This lie, that it takes tight ends longer to mature, is just that.

A lie.

This is who Njoku is; a good enough starter who can make a play or two a game but is too inconsistent enough to be a true great at his position and is a very mediocre to sub-par blocker. That’s ok, he’s still a valuable asset, but he’s not worth his massive contract, he’s not the second-best tight end in the league and he has above all else, not improved as a blocker.