The Browns have placed David Njoku (wrist) on injured reserve. He’ll miss at least the next eight weeks. And while he’s out, I don’t think Cleveland will have a viable play in that tight end spot.
Demetrius Harris should be the starter there. He played almost all of the Monday night game after Njoku left. He’s a converted basketball player that Kansas City has been working on for years, and he signed with Cleveland in the offseason. John Dorsey was familiar with him.
They’ve also got Ricky Seals-Jones, who played wide receiver at Texas A&M but has been a tight end for Arizona.
But neither Harris nor Seals-Jones has good hands.
Over the past three years, 55 tight ends have had at least 50 catchable passes thrown their way. Harris and Seals-Jones are the only two of those 55 who’ve dropped over 13 percent of their catchable passes.
Harris caught only 12 of 25 targets in KC last year, with 4 drops. And that was with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. It’s not like he was playing with a lesser quarterback who was firing in off-target passes that led him into defensive backs and whatnot.
Browns are very much looking forward to getting their regular tight end back.
| TIGHT END DROPS (2016-18) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Drop | Tot | Pct |
| Zach Miller | 67 | 0 | 67 | .0% |
| Jason Witten | 132 | 2 | 134 | 1.5% |
| Greg Olsen | 124 | 2 | 126 | 1.6% |
| Jordan Reed | 147 | 3 | 150 | 2.0% |
| Dennis Pitta | 86 | 2 | 88 | 2.3% |
| Kyle Rudolph | 204 | 5 | 209 | 2.4% |
| Hunter Henry | 81 | 2 | 83 | 2.4% |
| Zach Ertz | 268 | 7 | 275 | 2.5% |
| O.J. Howard | 60 | 2 | 62 | 3.2% |
| Rhett Ellison | 58 | 2 | 60 | 3.3% |
| Nick Boyle | 57 | 2 | 59 | 3.4% |
| Jack Doyle | 165 | 6 | 171 | 3.5% |
| Tyler Eifert | 48 | 2 | 50 | 4.0% |
| Delanie Walker | 143 | 6 | 149 | 4.0% |
| Rob Gronkowski | 141 | 6 | 147 | 4.1% |
| Cameron Brate | 135 | 6 | 141 | 4.3% |
| Antonio Gates | 111 | 5 | 116 | 4.3% |
| Tyler Higbee | 60 | 3 | 63 | 4.8% |
| C.J. Uzomah | 78 | 4 | 82 | 4.9% |
| Benjamin Watson | 96 | 5 | 101 | 5.0% |
| Trey Burton | 114 | 6 | 120 | 5.0% |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins | 74 | 4 | 78 | 5.1% |
| Julius Thomas | 71 | 4 | 75 | 5.3% |
| Will Tye | 52 | 3 | 55 | 5.5% |
| Martellus Bennett | 85 | 5 | 90 | 5.6% |
| Gerald Everett | 49 | 3 | 52 | 5.8% |
| Seth Devalve | 48 | 3 | 51 | 5.9% |
| Josh Hill | 47 | 3 | 50 | 6.0% |
| Austin Hooper | 139 | 9 | 148 | 6.1% |
| Travis Kelce | 271 | 18 | 289 | 6.2% |
| Coby Fleener | 72 | 5 | 77 | 6.5% |
| Charles Clay | 127 | 9 | 136 | 6.6% |
| Vernon Davis | 112 | 8 | 120 | 6.7% |
| Gary Barnidge | 55 | 4 | 59 | 6.8% |
| Evan Engram | 109 | 8 | 117 | 6.8% |
| George Kittle | 131 | 10 | 141 | 7.1% |
| Ed Dickson | 52 | 4 | 56 | 7.1% |
| Jimmy Graham | 177 | 14 | 191 | 7.3% |
| Jesse James | 112 | 9 | 121 | 7.4% |
| Dwayne Allen | 48 | 4 | 52 | 7.7% |
| Marcedes Lewis | 47 | 4 | 51 | 7.8% |
| C.J. Fiedorowicz | 68 | 6 | 74 | 8.1% |
| Jermaine Gresham | 79 | 7 | 86 | 8.1% |
| Ryan Griffin | 87 | 8 | 95 | 8.4% |
| Jeff Heuerman | 49 | 5 | 54 | 9.3% |
| David Njoku | 88 | 9 | 97 | 9.3% |
| Jared Cook | 152 | 16 | 168 | 9.5% |
| Eric Ebron | 180 | 19 | 199 | 9.5% |
| Tyler Kroft | 56 | 6 | 62 | 9.7% |
| Vance McDonald | 88 | 11 | 99 | 11.1% |
| Garrett Celek | 55 | 7 | 62 | 11.3% |
| Lance Kendricks | 87 | 12 | 99 | 12.1% |
| Virgil Green | 55 | 8 | 63 | 12.7% |
| Ricky Seals-Jones | 46 | 8 | 54 | 14.8% |
| Demetrius Harris | 47 | 12 | 59 | 20.3% |
—Ian Allan