← 2017 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R1 · #29 OVERALL · TE

David Njoku

Drafted by CLE · GM Sashi Brown · Miami (FL)

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow David Njoku across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played118
Games started88
Weighted career AV27
Pro Bowls1
AP1 All-Pro0
Career seasons9

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

2017 · Round 1 · #29

CLE draft credit

GM Sashi Brown

Team games118
Team starts88
On-team AV31
On-team PB / AP11 / 0
Good+0.38 contribution4th of 24 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

A Good pick

David Njoku was Sashi Brown's 4th-best of 24 picks across his career.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is +0.38. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Sashi Brown's leaderboard composite θ.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
118
on drafting team
Games started
88
on drafting team
Snap-z
7.1
9 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
31
modeled; full weighted AV 27
AV / 1k snaps
5.5
5,607 snaps in rate base
AV-rate z
+0.3
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
1
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 0
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Sashi Brown's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Sashi Brown pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. David Njoku totals +0.38. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-20+2+4+6+8+101. Garrett#1 · Myles Garrett · aggregate +11.46Garrett +11.599. Schobert#99 · Joe Schobert · aggregate +1.33138. Devalve#138 · Seth Devalve · aggregate +0.4629. Njoku#29 · David Njoku · aggregate +0.38Njoku +0.4172. Higgins#172 · Rashard Higgins · aggregate +0.34168. Drango#168 · Spencer Drango · aggregate +0.22129. Kindred#129 · Derrick Kindred · aggregate +0.1393. Kessler#93 · Cody Kessler · aggregate -0.20252. Dayes#252 · Matthew Dayes · aggregate -0.21185. Brantley#185 · Caleb Brantley · aggregate -0.2165. Ogunjobi#65 · Larry Ogunjobi · aggregate -0.51250. III#250 · Scooby Wright III · aggregate -0.54160. Johnson#160 · Roderick Johnson · aggregate -0.68173. Caldwell#173 · Trey Caldwell · aggregate -0.70114. Louis#114 · Ricardo Louis · aggregate -0.71154. Payton#154 · Jordan Payton · aggregate -0.8076. Coleman#76 · Shon Coleman · aggregate -0.82126. Wilson#126 · Howard Wilson · aggregate -1.0152. Kizer#52 · DeShone Kizer · aggregate -1.0565. Nassib#65 · Carl Nassib · aggregate -1.07224. Gonzalez#224 · Zane Gonzalez · aggregate -1.2215. Coleman#15 · Corey Coleman · aggregate -1.6325. Peppers#25 · Jabrill Peppers · aggregate -2.19Peppers -2.232. Ogbah#32 · Emmanuel Ogbah · aggregate -2.22Ogbah -2.2

Incremental contribution by season

-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-20+2+42016 · Joe Schobert · incremental +0.162016 · Spencer Drango · incremental +0.272016 · Seth Devalve · incremental +1.962016 · Derrick Kindred · incremental -0.092016 · Cody Kessler · incremental -0.262016 · Shon Coleman · incremental -0.412016 · Rashard Higgins · incremental -0.522016 · Ricardo Louis · incremental -0.572016 · Scooby Wright III · incremental -1.002016 · Carl Nassib · incremental -1.132016 · Trey Caldwell · incremental -1.132016 · Jordan Payton · incremental -1.212016 · Corey Coleman · incremental -1.792016 · Emmanuel Ogbah · incremental -2.902017 · Spencer Drango · incremental +0.322017 · Myles Garrett · incremental +0.552017 · Rashard Higgins · incremental +0.712017 · Joe Schobert · incremental +1.812017 · Cody Kessler · incremental -0.082017 · Derrick Kindred · incremental -0.082017 · Trey Caldwell · incremental -0.182017 · Jordan Payton · incremental -0.202017 · David Njoku · incremental -0.302017 · Matthew Dayes · incremental -0.342017 · Caleb Brantley · incremental -0.532017 · Ricardo Louis · incremental -0.662017 · Larry Ogunjobi · incremental -0.772017 · Emmanuel Ogbah · incremental -0.822017 · Shon Coleman · incremental -1.012017 · Corey Coleman · incremental -1.262017 · Carl Nassib · incremental -1.292017 · Roderick Johnson · incremental -1.402017 · Howard Wilson · incremental -1.612017 · DeShone Kizer · incremental -1.982017 · Zane Gonzalez · incremental -2.142017 · Seth Devalve · incremental -2.422017 · Jabrill Peppers · incremental -3.292018 · David Njoku · incremental +0.372018 · Rashard Higgins · incremental +0.402018 · Joe Schobert · incremental +0.602018 · Seth Devalve · incremental +1.612018 · Myles Garrett · incremental +2.062018 · Spencer Drango · incremental -0.022018 · Larry Ogunjobi · incremental -0.042018 · Derrick Kindred · incremental -0.062018 · Ricardo Louis · incremental -0.072018 · Scooby Wright III · incremental -0.092018 · Trey Caldwell · incremental -0.162018 · Jordan Payton · incremental -0.182018 · Shon Coleman · incremental -0.202018 · Howard Wilson · incremental -0.232018 · Zane Gonzalez · incremental -0.342018 · Emmanuel Ogbah · incremental -1.352018 · Jabrill Peppers · incremental -1.992019 · Matthew Dayes · incremental +0.002019 · Derrick Kindred · incremental +0.362019 · Myles Garrett · incremental +0.582019 · Joe Schobert · incremental +0.792019 · Spencer Drango · incremental -0.032019 · David Njoku · incremental -0.032019 · Cody Kessler · incremental -0.042019 · Larry Ogunjobi · incremental -0.052019 · Ricardo Louis · incremental -0.072019 · DeShone Kizer · incremental -0.092019 · Scooby Wright III · incremental -0.092019 · Trey Caldwell · incremental -0.172019 · Jordan Payton · incremental -0.182019 · Shon Coleman · incremental -0.212019 · Howard Wilson · incremental -0.242019 · Rashard Higgins · incremental -0.382019 · Corey Coleman · incremental -0.452020 · Matthew Dayes · incremental +0.002020 · Caleb Brantley · incremental +0.012020 · David Njoku · incremental +0.152020 · Derrick Kindred · incremental +0.402020 · Rashard Higgins · incremental +0.452020 · Myles Garrett · incremental +3.692020 · Spencer Drango · incremental -0.022020 · Cody Kessler · incremental -0.042020 · Ricardo Louis · incremental -0.072020 · Larry Ogunjobi · incremental -0.082020 · DeShone Kizer · incremental -0.082020 · Scooby Wright III · incremental -0.092020 · Trey Caldwell · incremental -0.152020 · Jordan Payton · incremental -0.182020 · Shon Coleman · incremental -0.202020 · Howard Wilson · incremental -0.212020 · Corey Coleman · incremental -0.452021 · Matthew Dayes · incremental +0.002021 · Caleb Brantley · incremental +0.012021 · Roderick Johnson · incremental +0.052021 · David Njoku · incremental +0.322021 · Rashard Higgins · incremental +0.462021 · Myles Garrett · incremental +3.912021 · DeShone Kizer · incremental -0.082021 · Howard Wilson · incremental -0.212022 · David Njoku · incremental +0.312022 · Myles Garrett · incremental +1.902023 · David Njoku · incremental +0.322023 · Myles Garrett · incremental +3.892024 · David Njoku · incremental +0.192024 · Myles Garrett · incremental +3.902025 · David Njoku · incremental +0.192025 · Myles Garrett · incremental +3.97Ogbah -2.9Njoku -0.3Kizer -2.0Gonzalez -2.1Devalve -2.4Peppers -3.3Njoku +0.4Garrett +2.1Peppers -2.0Njoku -0.0Njoku +0.2Garrett +3.7Njoku +0.3Garrett +3.9Njoku +0.3Njoku +0.3Garrett +3.9Njoku +0.2Garrett +3.9Njoku +0.2Garrett +4.0201614 players201723 players201817 players201917 players202017 players20218 players20222 players20232 players20242 players20252 players
Above expectationBelow expectationDavid NjokuGM total -1.4David Njoku by season +1.5

How much retained production did David Njoku return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: TEs drafted within ±5 picks of David Njoku since 2010 (4 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

0+0.5+1+1.5Model value above slot25. KincaidDalton Kincaid · model value +1.734. LaPortaSam LaPorta · model value +1.534. FleenerCoby Fleener · model value +0.929. NjokuDavid Njoku · model value -0.1-0.125. HurstHayden Hurst · model value -0.1
David NjokuSlot-similar peers (4)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'18'20'22'24'2502346689101Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (9 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
2017CLE1666670.923.0
2018CLE16168711.855.7
2019CLE4199-1.000.0
2020CLE1364100.124.9
2021CLE16156701.046.0
2022CLE14138171.467.3
2023CLE16169702.077.2
2024CLE1195890.635.1
2025CLE1295140.423.9

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