Browns Place Franchise Tag on TE David Njoku
At the NFL Scouting Combine, Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry suggested that tight end David Njoku's best football was ahead of him. Monday, the Browns placed the franchise tag on the tight end, making it all but official that Njoku will remain with the team in 2022.
The two sides have until the middle of July to work out a deal. Njoku could simply sign the tender which is worth $11 million for this season.
The expectation is the two sides will work out a longer term extension. Njoku, who has expressed a desire to sign a long-term deal with the Browns, would like to secure his future. The Browns not only like Njoku as a player within their offense, but a long term deal would give them some flexibility in how they structure the contract.
It's certainly possible that a multi-year deal could simply be worth around $11 million or even more in the first season. Following the trends of deals Berry has negotiated, it's likely that the contract would escalate over the life of the contact coinciding with the increasing salary cap.
As an example, if the Browns signed Njoku to a three year, $33 million deal, but they might structure it so he gets $7 million in the first year, $11 million in the second and then $15 million in the third. That could give them some extra cap space to operate this year.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Browns and Njoku's agent have already been discussing a long-term deal. The Browns under Berry have not been inclined to use tags at all and certainly don't want to use them as a weapon. It's likely a vehicle to get a deal done to ensure the player is happy about the decision.
For now, Njoku is kept off the open market and it focuses the negotiations between his agent and the Browns.
