A Chance For Greatness: Browns Tight Ends
Josh Thornton
We all rejoiced when the realization was made that newly hired head coach Kevin Stefanski would bring with him to Cleveland an offensive system heavy on running the football and tight end usage. Music to our ears. Especially after suffering through the “Season of Fred”.
Training camp has only fueled that excitement with how well both of those groups have performed. We know that Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb are capable of great things and having both of them in the backfield in Stefanski’s system will cause defensive coordinators to lose sleep. Those 2 can be as good a duo as any in the history of the NFL. Yes… in the entire history. What about the tight end group? Can that group have the same opportunity?
Landing Hooper early in free agency was HUGE for this team. Paring Hooper with Njoku, who showed flashes of great potential in his rookie campaign, was an exciting thought. That is… until Njoku decided Cleveland wasn’t good looking enough for him anymore. Oh, and he continued to drop passes in camp, something that has plagued him throughout his young career. Here we go again right? Deflated excitement… something all too familiar in The Land.
Hold the phones…
Just when we needed it, the Browns 4th round draft pick Harrison Bryant burst onto the scene and has been displaying why he won the John Mackey Award his senior year of college. He has been as consistent as they come through camp. Making play after play, Balling. Earning that 2nd tight end roster spot.
Njoku who?
So, back to the question at hand… Can the Browns produce the best tight end duo in NFL history? Only now we’re talking about Hooper and Bryant.
Who do they have to beat out to claim the throne? The answer to this question could be viewed as objective or subjective, depending on your argument. I’m taking the objective approach in saying they would need to top 2011 Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, obviously before Hernandez went all psycho-gangster killer. The pair put up a combined yardage of 2,237 (1327 for Gronk and 910 for Hernandez). They also racked up 24 combined touchdowns (17 for Gronk and 7 for Hernandez). That’s one hell of a year for a tight end duo, and the highlight reel plays from that season prove it.
It’s a tall order for our Browns tight ends. While the usage of the position will see an uptick this year, the 2019 Vikings tight ends only eclipsed just over 700 yards… a far cry from 2,200+… Now, the talent here beats the talent there, so that’s a tangible advantage, but I don’t think it quite gives the tandem enough to eclipse the 2011 Patriot combo. Couple that with the need to feed the other playmakers on this team and I’m taking the under with our group.
They will be fantastic. Greatness though… that may escape them.
Its going to be a fun ride!
Go Browns!
