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#29: TE, David Njoku, Miami

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See Peppers thread for a continuation
 
Big Chief thread warrants a bump, IMO.

Njoku is going to be a threat in the RZ this year. He's been targeted heavily in camp already, has innate chemistry with Bake, and with his athleticism and size, should be a mismatch monster thanks to the other weapons around him.

Historically, Mayfield has always looked to get his TE's involved in the offense because he loves exploiting the LB mismatch across the middle of the field. I am expecting Chief's YPG to drop this year but wouldn't be surprised to see him closing in on double-digit TD's.
 
This could be the season when the Chief finally gets it.


Tight end David Njoku was a matchup nightmare, grabbing all three of his contested catches and translating two of them into explosive plays.
He was very young and raw when he was drafted, had pretty bad coach and QBs play, and still had pretty solid years his first 2 years. 2019 was lost to injury and his usage was down last year to injury, weather and Hooper. But he’s never really played badly. Now that a lot is right with the team, I agree, he could have a big year.
 
Any chance we sign chief to an extension and cut Hooper after this season? I'm not sure about Hooper's contract situation...
 
Any chance we sign chief to an extension and cut Hooper after this season? I'm not sure about Hooper's contract situation...
I think there is absolutely a chance of this.

They will make a choice between Njoku and Hooper for 2022, keep Bryant on his rookie deal, and draft a TE to keep the pipeline flowing in 2022 draft
 
I think there is absolutely a chance of this.

They will make a choice between Njoku and Hooper for 2022, keep Bryant on his rookie deal, and draft a TE to keep the pipeline flowing in 2022 draft
Fully agreed.

I really see no reason they'll keep Hooper on that contract.
 
I think there is absolutely a chance of this.

They will make a choice between Njoku and Hooper for 2022, keep Bryant on his rookie deal, and draft a TE to keep the pipeline flowing in 2022 draft
Browns will just have to take a huge hit to their cap space by cutting Hooper, but I think there is a pretty high possibility
 
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Any chance we sign chief to an extension and cut Hooper after this season? I'm not sure about Hooper's contract situation...

Hooper has a weird contract. He is owed 3.75 in bonus in 2022, 2023 and 2024 guaranteed. His 9.5 mill salary for 2022 and 2023 is not guaranteed though. So cutting Hooper after this year gives us a one time dead cap hit of 11.25 mill but saves us 19 mill.

So it will be a big hit, but i think we take it. I am guessing we cut Keenum who is signed one more year, but is only guaranteed 1.3 mill and saves 5.5 if cut, OBJ who has no more guaranteed salary after this year and thus cutting him saves the full 15 million. Hubbard comes off the books, that is 5 million, clowney comes off at 8 million, Billings and his 3.5 mill.

Malik Jackson is off, but i hope to replace him (first round DE to replace Clowney hopefully), Bittonio, Tretter and Conklin are expnesive but want to keep them.

Just cutting OBJ, Hooper and Keenum savfes about 30 mill and Clowny and Billings saves another 15 mill with expirations. We will need to find a 3rd tight end to replace hooper, i think we have the WR's in place to replace OBJ and we signed Mullens to replace Keenum next year. Then draft to replace Clowney.

Long story short, players we will cut or not signed for next year will save us about 45 million, we are under the cap, and the cap is supposed to go way up. But we have Baker, Ward and Teller to try and extend, but we should have money left to give Njoku a fair contract too...maybe in the Graham, Logan Thomas, Waller range of 8 mill a year? find a 3rd sting TE for 2 mill or draft one in the 3rd or 4th.
 
Is there any chance at all that they might try to restructure/ask Hooper to take a pay cut before outright cutting him?

And if so, what would that look like?
 
Is there any chance at all that they might try to restructure/ask Hooper to take a pay cut before outright cutting him?

And if so, what would that look like?
my guess is the short answer is that Hooper doesnt want to restructure. The browns dont use him like he was used in atlanta and so he has seen a huge drop off in stats. I am sure he thinks another team would be willing to offer more money on the open market than the browns are.

edit: obviously if the numbers are close it becomes a possibility but I can imagine the browns wanting to spend more than 4-5 million on Hooper especially if they are able to resign Njoku in the 7 million range
 
my guess is the short answer is that Hooper doesnt want to restructure. The browns dont use him like he was used in atlanta and so he has seen a huge drop off in stats. I am sure he thinks another team would be willing to offer more money on the open market than the browns are.

edit: obviously if the numbers are close it becomes a possibility but I can imagine the browns wanting to spend more than 4-5 million on Hooper especially if they are able to resign Njoku in the 7 million range

I guess it depends how much he cares about stats versus winning. He put up monster stats on a bad Atlanta team that was constantly playing from behind. Does he want to go back to that? He's already had what will certainly be the best statistical season of his career and no one can take that away from him.
 
I misunderstood the guarantees on Hooper's contract. Given that he would be 11.25M in dead cap vs 13.25M in cap is he's on the team, I think there is a very very small chance he would be cut in the offseason unless he has a terrible year or serious injury.

Seems like a trade or renegotiation would be the more likely path if the Browns decide they also want to re-sign Njoku.

That said, it is possible they could do an Njoku extension that has a relatively small cap number in 2022 and 2024, that balloon up in 2024 and beyond, after Hooper's deal has expired.

Will have to see how the year plays out but if Njoku has regular performances like his past two games(KC playoffs and Game 1), it would be tough to just let him walk.
 

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