CLEVELAND, Ohio — The writing was on the wall most of this season for David Njoku and the Browns, even when he said repeatedly in a rare locker room interview midseason that he wanted to be a Brown for life.
By the end of the season, Njoku’s tone had changed.
He laid out the situation about as clearly as anyone could: “I do (want to return to Cleveland), but it’s not up to me,” he said.
The NFL has a funny way of upending plans, and when a 21-year-old phenom kicks down the door of the tight end room and announces his arrival like Harold Fannin Jr. did in 2025, it makes it harder for a team to hang onto a soon-to-be 30-year-old tight end who has struggled with injuries the last two seasons.
The Browns themselves are digging out from upended plans, moving on from an era that started with hope because of players like Njoku but never materialized.
Njoku was a member of the 2017 draft class. The Browns traded up to take him at No. 29 overall after they had selected Myles Garrett No. 1. They traded the No. 12 pick to Houston so the Texans could select Deshaun Watson, picking up safety Jabrill Peppers at No. 25 and the first-round pick that became Denzel Ward the following season.
Watson would play a significant role in all of this again, but first, try to go back and find a snapshot of this football team following their Divisional Round loss to the Chiefs in 2020, fueled in part by those drafts that came from the wreckage of the 2016 and 2017 season.
The Browns were thought highly enough of after that loss that they opened the following season against the Chiefs in a 4:25 p.m. Sunday game. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo called the game. It was a competitive game and the Browns even led for most of it.
The 1-31 record, all of those picks, the aggressive moves to trade for Odell Beckham Jr. and sign Jarvis Landry were supposed to lead to moments like this. The rocket ship was leaving the launch pad.
Except it never actually took off. Things fell apart with Baker Mayfield. The Browns gave up three first-round picks and more for 17 mostly underwhelming games of Watson. Were it not for a magical month from Joe Flacco, things would feel really dark looking back on it all.
Flacco’s run, in fact, only adds to the what-could-have-been feeling.
Now that failed all-in era is over and some of the fans’ most beloved players from it either have or are going to move on. It was running back Nick Chubb last year. It’s Njoku this year. Right guard Wyatt Teller seems to be trending that way, too, while left guard Joel Bitonio contemplates retirement.
Njoku handing the baton to Fannin is just a reminder that the Browns are rebuilding. It’s not the 1-31 tank years, but they’ve won just eight games in two years. GM Andrew Berry shifted quickly into picks acquisition mode last offseason.
They go into this offseason with a good nucleus on defense, but they need to continue revamping the offense. They might need to rebuild the entire offensive line. They desperately need pass catchers.
The Browns all-in move for Watson didn’t fail so spectacularly just because they gave up those first-round picks and paid Watson all that money. If Watson had played at a Pro Bowl level, they might not have won a Super Bowl, but they would have been a good team.
Instead, not only did they miss out on adding players with those picks, but they got next to nothing from the player they did add with those picks.
What does all this mean for the future and this new era?
The Browns can’t take shortcuts, at least not yet.
Their goal, after last year’s successful draft, is to stockpile as much young, cost-controlled talent as possible. It’s about continuing to find out about young players on the roster, which includes Shedeur Sanders. It’s about being targeted in acquiring the right types of free agents, young veterans on second contracts and taking measured risks.
It might also mean an offseason that doesn’t win headlines, but it continues to lay a foundation.
Njoku leaving isn’t just sentimental turnover. It’s confirmation the previous window closed years ago. The Browns aren’t preserving a core now. They’re rebuilding it.
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