Browns Considered Perfect Fit For TE Harold Fannin Jr. By Former Coach

Harold Fannin Jr. isn't the prototypical NFL tight end. That's why there were at least a handful of teams that told Bowling Green special teams coordinator Alex Bayer that Fannin Jr. probably wasn't the right fit throughout the pre-draft process.

Bayer was Fannin Jr.'s position coach during his three years with the program, where he put on an absolute show in the MAC, breaking numerous program records – some of which belonged to Bayer – on way to being named the conference's player of the year.

What may not be the right fit for one team, may be exactly what another team is looking for. That's the beauty of the NFL. And as it turned out, Fannin was exactly who the Cleveland Browns wanted in a tight end.

From Bayer's perspective, the Canton native couldn't have landed in a better situation.

"I think the Browns are a perfect fit," Bayer said in an interview on the Locked on Browns Podcast. "He needed to go somewhere that had a veteran tight end that can kind of show him the ropes and show them how to be a pro and show them, 'hey, we show up at this time, we do this stuff.'"

Fannin Jr. will have just that with the Browns, in the form of eight-year veteran David Njoku. The 2023 Pro Bowler has a wealth of knowledge and experiences to tap into as he helps mentor the 20-year-old, Fannin.

It's an adventitious situation for any rookie to step into, having a veteran to develop under. And, despite the fact that physically they're different players – Njoku is your prototypical, 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end, while Fannin is considered a bit undersized at 6-foot-3, 240 – they are plenty similar in their playing styles.

There's also the fact that the biggest knock on Fannin is his blocking ability, something that Njoku also wasn't known for either when he was first drafted. It's well documented, that the Miami product didn't exactly embrace that phase of the position in his early NFL years.

It even led to a rift between him and head coach Kevin Stefanski over his role in the offense. Then, suddenly, he made blocking a priority, welcomed it, and turned himself into arguably one of the top blocking tight ends in football.

Bayer admits that Fannin Jr.'s physique isn't necessarily the "NFL standard. Still, he believes the criticisms of the MAC Player of the Year as a blocker are a bit overstated.

"The two plays I love most from this past season were the first two plays of Penn State. When the first play of the game, he catches the seam ball down the middle for 35, 40 yards, and he gets up, he's celebrating. On the next play, he drives Abdul Carter five yards off the ball, blocking him one-on-one."

It's moments like that that give Bayer confidence that Fannin Jr. is destined to become one of the best tight ends in the game.

"It was [only] his third year playing tight end," said Bayer. "He's only played the position for three years and you see, after three years, the production and success that he's had. I think he's just going to continue to grow, and get better, and get developed and be able to really turn into one of the best 10 ends in the league."

It helps that he's apparently a fast learner.

As Bayer mentioned, Fannin Jr. was very a novice to the tight end position when he came to Bowling Green. In high school he was primarily a defensive back at McKinley Senior High in Canton.

Bayer remembers being blown away when the tight end coach at the time Greg Nosal, first got his hands on Fannin Jr. in 2022.

"It was the very first day we had Harold and [he] is just getting into a three-point stance. Let's, go step right and hit this bag here. Let's just see what we're working with," Bayer explained. "He got down in a perfect stance. He had perfect footwork, he had perfect body position, hand placement, you know, everything was a perfect rep. His very first time ever getting to the three-point stance, and he was like, whoa, okay, this kid's gonna be pretty good."

It's a rare quality for anyone to exemplify, let a lone a freshman in college. It should also help him transition to the NFL game very quickly as well.

"Best attribute I can give to Harold is that he's just a sponge," said Bayer. "You know, you tell him one thing, boom, he's got it. It's locked in his mind. Like, you do not need to tell this kid twice what to do, where the line is, what route to run, whatever."

What also stands out about Fannin Jr. is that his best performances came against the most high-profile of opponents. That Penn State game where Fannin Jr. caught a long pass to open the game, then immediately blew Carter off the ball one play later, he finished with 11 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.

Two weeks later, he followed it up with an eight-reception, 145-yard, one-touchdown effort at Texas A&M. He went on to punctuate a historic 2024 campaign by racking 17 receptions and 213 yards in Bowling Green's bowl game loss to Arkansas State. Both of those figures are FBS records for tight ends.

Those performances caught the Browns' attention, too. But as Bayer laid out, there's so much more to his game, and because he's so young he's got plenty of room to grow.

In Stefanski's tight-end-heavy scheme, it may just happen sooner than anyone could imagine. Except Bayer, of course.

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