Njoku Wants Out, Browns Unlikely to Comply.

The news hit the other day that Browns’ TE and former first round draft pick David Njoku had hired a new agent and asked the team to trade him.

We expressed the opinion that just because the player made the request, the GM Andrew Berry is under no obligation to move Njoku, and we heard some comments very typical of most fan bases.

If he doesn’t want to be here, then move him as soon as possible. One former NFL player currently in the media expressed the opinion that the Browns can’t have that kind of distraction in the locker room.

We say the best thing to do is to step back and not make an emotional decision, which we feel is what Berry will do.

Cleveland just exercised the fifth year option on the tight end’s contract, meaning he is under his rookie deal for two more seasons. That’s probably the reason for hiring a new agent, and also requesting the deal.

More likely than not, Njoku and his new representative, super agent Drew Rosenhaus, want the same thing the Browns are doing with Myles Garrett, who also had his fifth year option picked up.

The Browns are working on an extension for Garrett, likely one that will make him one of the highest paid, if not the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.

The former Miami (FL) standout isn’t on the same par as Garrett, but it would seem as if Njoku would like to be paid sooner than later.

However, here is the problem. Njoku hardly played a year ago. He broke his wrist in the second game of the year against the Jets, and then, for whatever reason, feel into Freddie Kitchens’ doghouse.

The result was a season where he played in only four games, started just one of those, and caught only five passes for 41 yards, and one touchdown.

That pales in comparison to his first two years in the league, grabbing 32 passes as a rookie, getting into the end zone four times, and in his second year, he caught 56 throw and again scored four TD’s.

People have speculated that perhaps Njoku is upset by the free agent signing of Austin Hooper, a Pro Bowl TE for Atlanta. But Kevin Stefanski’s offense is based on a lot of two tight end sets, so there will still be plenty of playing time for Njoku.

Quite frankly, he will probably thrive in the offense if indeed he plays in Cleveland this season.

From the Browns’ standpoint, they used a first round pick on the player, and he is contractually here for two more seasons.

What do you think they would receive in return with Njoku coming off an injury plagued season, a year in which when he was healthy, his coaches basically ignored him?

They would get nothing near what the spent on him. We have seen speculation of a fourth or fifth round pick.

As for being a distraction in the locker room, our guess is Rosenhaus told him not to be one, because it doesn’t help his value either. We think Njoku will show up to camp, work hard, and make himself desirable to other teams.

However, if he does that, he will also be an asset to the Browns.

And we also think he will have a very good year if he improves his hands, and works within the Stefanski system. And if he does, the Browns will be willing to pay him.

Berry is going to do what is best for the Cleveland Browns, and we believe that means keeping Njoku. That is, unless he finds someone better.

Shortened Draft, Less Minor League Teams Plays Into Helping Big Markets

The Major League Amateur Draft started in 1965. Coincidentally, the New York Yankees’ dominance of the American League ended the same year.

We say coincidentally because the Bronx Bombers of that era were showing some age. Stars like Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford were showing some age, as was former MVP Elston Howard. Yogi Berra recently retired and managed the team in ’64.

From 1936-1964, New York won 22 AL pennants, and the only time they went consecutive seasons without a berth in the World Series was during World War II (1944-46).

When baseball had its only era without any free agency of any sort, from 1965 to the McNally/Messersmith decision at the end of 1975, the Yankees won no pennants. Their best finish was a pair of 2nd place finishes in 1970 and 1974.

To be fair, not being able to outspend everyone was not the only reason for the Yanks lack of titles, but it is interesting they weren’t successful. The Yanks didn’t make the post-season from 1982-1995 and they could spend freely in those years.

But the reason we bring this up is baseball’s willingness to eliminate farm teams and shorten the amateur draft.

Developing players is the equalizer for smaller market teams that cannot afford to pay big bucks for star players. The Indians have stayed competitive over the past seven years because of their success in developing players such as Jose Ramirez, Roberto Perez, and a cadre of pitchers, particularly starters like Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, and others.

We didn’t count Frankie Lindor here because he was a first round pick, but none of the others we mentioned were.

If we were a mid market franchise, we would invest heavily in the farm system, bringing in as many players as we could. The more you work with, the better chance one of them becomes a big leaguer.

Remember how the St. Louis Cardinals became a power in the 1930’s. Branch Rickey’s extensive farm system produced players that kept the franchise contending during the 30’s and 40’s.

We heard former Marlins’ executive David Samson say he had a problem with investing money in the player development system knowing only a few could make an impact at the big league level.

That’s horrible thinking in our opinion. We look at it differently.

What value would you put on Ramirez’ production with the Tribe? He’s had two top three MVP finishes as an international free agent. Those two seasons alone would at worst be valued at $60 million on the open market.

Cleveland paid next to nothing.

We also feel the shortened draft plays into the hands of the teams with a more national fan base.

According to Baseball America’s Top 500 Prospects coming into this year’s draft, of the players not drafted, the teams signing the most players in this ranking were the Yankees, Phillies, Cubs, as well as the Padres and Royals.

Overall, the Red Sox and Reds signed the most players regarding of ranking.

The Royals got a lot of good press in saying they would pay their minor leaguers for the remainder of the season. For the record, the Indians signed one, C Joe Donovan.

There was a cap on the bonus amount for these players this year, but what happens when there isn’t? Do you think the big market teams aren’t going the volume route and will sign as many of these free agents as they can?

Besides the talent acquisition aspect, eliminating minor league teams hurts the sport at the grass roots level. Why would you want to expose less people to your sport? Isn’t that the antithesis to growing the game of baseball?

What’s one positive thing about these two moves from the commissioner’s office? Frankly, we can’t think of one. Seems like the people who run the game wanted to do something for the sake of doing something, and only thought about one thing–saving money.

Here’s hoping logic prevails, but based on the last couple of months, we doubt that’s possible.

Cavs Making Moves, Hopefully More To Come.

The Cleveland Cavaliers made a couple of roster moves in the past couple of days, converting Dean Wade’s two way contract to a multi-year deal and adding free agent Jordan Bell on a two year deal.

Both players have some size, Wade is 6’9″ and Bell 6’8″, so that’s a good thing, and they didn’t have to give anything else to sign him, and that’s another good thing.

It was also announced Ante Zizic will play in Europe next season, and that’s a loss of a big body.

Really, none of these moves are significant.

It’s hard to get excited by Wade, who is really a stretch four, but at 24 next season, maybe he’s a player who gets better and finds his niche in the NBA later in his career, but it’s tough to see him having a significant role for the wine and gold in the 2020-21 season.

Bell has been with three teams in four years, and was regarded as a hot commodity when Golden State purchased his draft rights from the Bulls. He did play 14 minutes a night in his rookie year, which is his high water mark.

Our thought is he is a victim of the idea that everything the Warriors touched turned to gold a couple of years ago, so if they wanted him, he must really be good. He played in 29 games this past season, averaging 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in nine minutes.

Can he develop his game and become a solid player? Of course, but for now, we can’t think too much of this move.

As for Zizic, while we would have liked him to get more of an opportunity we understand the move. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 boards a game when he got regular playing time in ’18-’19, getting 18 minutes per game (59 games).

However, here’s our thought on most NBA players. They can all score if given touches, but what determines playing time is how you play defense, and if you can’t guard someone, then you sit.

Again, he’s just 23, and he wouldn’t be the first big man to go overseas, gain some experience, and come back to the NBA a better player. Perhaps he can learn to make up for a seeming lack of lateral quickness with anticipation and positioning.

There have been multiple rumors of the Cavs looking for young, athletic wings in free agency, and two names that have been reported are Derrick Jones Jr., currently with Miami and Josh Jackson, with Memphis.

Jones is just 23 years old, and is averaging 8.9 points and 4.2 caroms for the Heat, the best marks of his career. And he comes from a good culture, playing for Erik Spoelstra in Miami.

Jackson, also 23, is the former 4th overall pick in the draft in 2018, but was traded to Memphis at the draft last summer, and played most of this year in the G-League. He did score 10.4 points in 18 games with the Grizzlies.

While we definitely see a need for wings, here’s hoping the organization doesn’t ignore big folks either. Losing Zizic and perhaps Tristan Thompson will leave a hole in this area too.

We were encouraged to hear of interest in Harry Giles, a 6’11” player out of Duke that has battled injuries since leaving high school. In 96 NBA games with Sacramento, 17 of them starts, Giles has scored seven points with four rebounds per game.

In the 10 games after the All Star Game, he upped those figures to 10.8 and 6.2. Hopefully, the rumors are true about Cleveland’s interest in Giles, he could wind up being a very good option here if the Kings do not pick up his option.

So, while the most recent moves don’t really get us excited, the young, athletic wings make us intrigued. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until the playoffs are over for real moves to be made.