Cleveland Browns: 3 Early breakout candidates for 2019 season

3. David Njoku

There’s no question that David Njoku showed noted improvement from his rookie season to his second year with the Cleveland Browns. Part of that, to be sure, has to do with the fact that Baker Mayfield is miles better than DeShone Kizer and the other quarterbacks that were throwing to him in the 2017 season. However, it’s also partly because Njoku looked overall better in the 2018 season, showing that he’d put in the work to get better.

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In 16 games last season, the 29th overall pick in 2017 put up 56 catches (on 88 targets) for 639 yards and four touchdowns. When he came out of Miami, the physical tools for Njoku to be a dominant pass-catcher in the NFL were clearly there, but it was all up to him to put the package together. He showed signs of doing that last season.

While that may be true, the stars are also aligning for Njoku to simply be in a better position in the 2019 season. For one, the coaching position has stabilized, which should help him a great deal — especially when you consider how much Todd Monken loved to utilize O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate while with Tampa Bay.

On top of that, though, Baker Mayfield should take a step forward as he comes into his second NFL season while the group of weapons around Njoku is also better. That opens up the field for the tight end and simply gives him more room to operate. With that and his natural maturation and progression, he could be in store for a real breakout year.