David Njoku Fires Back At National Outlet For Take About His Browns' Future
Browns tight end David Njoku is no stranger to calling out media members with bad takes.
After Cleveland's playoff clinching win over the Jets on Thursday Night Football Njoku took a shot at NFL Network's Adam Rank, who during the preseason had predicted the team to go 6-11. That night they sat at 11-5 and went on to finish 11-6, overcoming an exuberant number of injuries in the process.
“I’m sure when everybody got hurt, everybody doubted us,” Njoku said after the Week 17 win. “Everybody said we weren’t going to do whatever. There’s a guy, Adam Rank — that guy sucks. We hold our own fate. We pushed through. We earned that. The guys in this locker room should be proud of that, but understand that there’s a lot more that we can do.”
Nearly two months later, Njoku found himself mentioning Rank yet again as he called out another media member: Steve Palazzolo of PFF. After a video clip surfaced on social media of Palazzolo suggesting that Njoku could be a player the the Browns look to cut this offseason, the Miami product fired back suggesting he was one of Rank's disciples.
The take is certainly an obscure one from Palazzolo. First and foremost because Njoku proved to be one of the most dependable tight ends in football this past season and Cleveland has no intention of releasing him. Beyond that though, Njoku's contract is nearly impossible to get out from underneath at the moment.
Cutting Njoku between now and March 19 would force the Browns to eat a $19 million dead cap hit. After that date, an $11.79 million option bonus becomes fully guaranteed as well, making that dead cap hit jump to a massive $30.8 million if Cleveland were to cut ties with the 2017 first-round pick.
It essentially makes zero sense for the Browns to do such a thing. Clearly Njoku knows that isn't happening as well.
