Browns David Njoku Talks About His Difficult Beginnings in His Relationship With Kevin Stefanski

For the first time since 2020, Browns tight end David Njoku opened out to Kay Adam about the changes in his relationship with head coach Kevin Stefanski. It hasn’t always been easy for Njoku in Cleveland.

Njoku, who was selected for the first time in his career to the Pro Bowl, set career highs in 2023 for touchdowns (six), yards (882), and catches (81). He also has the most yards after catch of any tight end in football, with 599 total.

In actuality, though, things haven’t always gone smoothly for the first-round selection from 2017. Indeed, as he talked about this week on Up and Adams with Kay Adams, when head coach Kevin Stefanski first joined the team in 2020, the two didn’t initially agree, which resulted in a difficult beginning to their time together in Cleveland and his controversial trade request.

“Our relationship is night and day from when he first got here,” Njoku stated. “I was trying to leave during his first year, which was obviously filled with upheaval and dramatic events that weren’t really necessary at the time. However, I believed that it was necessary for our connection to develop to its current strength.