The bad news continued rolling in for the Cleveland Browns after they lost their fifth game in six tries against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, October 12.
Cleveland’s offense mustered just nine points in the defeat and one-third of the way through the NFL season still has yet to score north of 17 points in a game. Crossing that threshold could be even more difficult moving forward, depending on how serious the knee injury is that tight end David Njoku suffered in Pittsburgh.
“#Browns David Njoku and Joe Tyron Shoyinka have knee injuries,” Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported via X following the contest.
Njoku left the game with what Cleveland initially reported as a thigh injury, though the team made the diagnosis more clear during the postgame. The Browns did not immediately divulge the severity of Njoku’s knee issue, and team doctors will conduct further tests in the coming days.
Dillon Gabriel Has Leaned Heavily on TEs David Njoku, Harold Fannin Jr. in 2 Games as Browns Starter
GettyCleveland Browns tight end Harold Fannin Jr.
Njoku is not a small loss for an offense that is already struggling mightily.
He finished the afternoon Sunday with three catches for 28 yards on six targets. Njoku also led the team in targets (9), receptions (6) and receiving yards (67) in Week 5 against the Minnesota Vikings. He added a touchdown during that game.
Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel has leaned heavily on his tight ends through his first two career NFL starts, which is liable to continue, as the third-rounder is going to start for the foreseeable future.
That will likely translate into even more work for rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr., also a third-round pick. Fannin saw 10 targets and made seven catches for 81 yards against the Steelers Sunday. For the season, he has hauled in 21 catches for 173 receiving yards and one TD on 28 total targets through six games.
David Njoku’s Injury Could Impact His Trade Value Ahead of NFL Deadline
GettyCleveland Browns tight end David Njoku
Njoku’s injury could impact his potential status as a trade target ahead of the league’s November 4 deadline.
He put up a Pro Bowl season in 2023, tallying 81 catches for 882 receiving yards and six touchdowns. However, Njoku is 29 years old and playing in his ninth professional season. He battled injury issues last year that cost him six regular-season games and is in the final year of his $55 million contract in 2025.
As such, Jared Mueller of SB Nation named the tight end as one of the team’s most likely trade chips in the coming weeks.
“[Njoku is] an interesting case where his value might be higher somewhere else where he is getting more targets and asked to block/chip less,” Mueller wrote Saturday.
Cleveland is already starting five of the seven rookies it drafted in 2025 and has traded quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco for fifth-round picks next year. Considering Fannin’s clear talent and inexpensive contract, Njoku makes considerable sense as a trade candidate in the coming weeks — assuming he is healthy enough for the Browns to move for a Day-3 asset.
The Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers are both potential landing spots for Njoku in the weeks to come.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Browns Get Crushing Injury News on $55 Million Star appeared first on Heavy Sports.