The actual key to the Browns’ offensive revival is ... tight end David Njoku

The Cleveland Browns are due for a rebound. Not only do they boast some intriguing young talent for 2018, but it would literally be impossible for them to be any worse after last year’s 0-16 campaign.

And the one man who could help a sputtering offense realize its potential is ... a tight end who made only five starts last fall.

David Njoku had the least impact of the Browns’ three first-round picks in 2017, playing in all 16 games but often getting lost in one of the league’s least efficient passing offenses. Quarterbacks DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan, and Cody Kessler effectively Nerfed his breakout athleticism, limiting him to just 32 receptions. Though he led the team in receiving touchdowns, the fact that he only needed four to get there is a testament to how bad Cleveland really was.

But 2018 will be better. New general manager John Dorsey overhauled the league’s saddest quarterback rotation by adding a Pro Bowl passer the Bills no longer wanted, Tyrod Taylor, and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Baker Mayfield. Suddenly the Browns have potential in the passing game — and the key to getting the best out of either quarterback just may be Njoku.

Taylor’s reliance on Charles Clay in Buffalo was a showcase of what he can do with a pass-catching tight end. Clay had more receiving yards than anyone on the Bills in 2017 and finished in the top two in team receptions the previous two seasons. Even as the team’s passing output went down, Taylor’s reliance on his No. 1 tight end increased:

Clay is a quality player who developed from Tulsa H-back into an above-average NFL tight end. He doesn’t have the pure athleticism or ceiling Njoku, a former high school national high jump champion, brings to the table. With an elite burst off the line, lightning-quick cuts in space, and springs for legs, Njoku has the chops to be one of the league’s top targets.

That works for Mayfield, too. The former Oklahoma star turned Mark Andrews into one of the Big 12’s most potent red zone threats in his three years as a starter, lobbing 22 touchdowns to his 6’5, 255-pound target. But Mayfield relied on his thick tight end to provide more than plodding and post-ups at the goal line. Andrews averaged nearly 16 yards per catch with Mayfield as his quarterback and led the Sooners in receptions last year.

The bottom line is the Browns now have two quarterbacks who know how to rely on their tight end help. We’ve seen it manifest this preseason as well. Njoku and Taylor teamed up in Week 1 for a gorgeous 30-yard touchdown strike:

Njoku was Taylor’s short-yardage target against the Eagles in Week 3 of the preseason. The veteran quarterback targeted his big tight end near the line of scrimmage on each of his first two drives. The first was a checkdown on third-and-long that only gained a few yards. The second was a drag route that allowed Njoku to use his athleticism to charge toward the goal line, take to the sky, and land a yard short of a tiebreaking touchdown.

When Taylor left the game after two drives with a wrist injury, Mayfield played up to his reputation as a risk taker. He dialed up more challenging throws downfield, some of which sailed over Njoku’s head to open receivers. In all, the second-year tight end finished the night with four catches on four targets — none were more than 5 yards from the line of scrimmage. That’s not the best use of his talents, but it’s a useful trick to have when you’ve got a thin receiving corps loaded with unproven players.

Cleveland is hoping for a big leap from its second-year, mismatch-creating tight end, in part because the team’s receiving corps is basically just Jarvis Landry and a bunch of names drawn from a hat. Josh Gordon was an All-Pro ... in 2013. Since then he’s played only 10 NFL games due to league suspensions. He can’t be counted on to put together a full season yet, though his five-game return last fall (18.6 yards per catch!) was promising.

Behind them, Corey Coleman, a 2016 first-round pick, was traded to Buffalo for a seventh-rounder. Ricardo Louis, last year’s most productive wide receiver, is out for the year with a neck injury. 2018 draftee Antonio Callaway slid to the fifth round due to off-field concerns, then was cited for marijuana possession before the first game of the preseason. The club’s big free agent acquisition at the position was Packers special teamer Jeff Janis. Rashard Higgins (27 catches last year) might turn out OK.

Thursday’s game was a showcase of how hamstrung the Browns can be when Landry gets bullied by opposing secondaries. The Eagles chipped the high-priced acquisition all night, limiting him to three catches despite 11 targets. Without anyone else to open up the passing game downfield, it will be tough to drop Cleveland’s aerial attack out of neutral.

The good news is tight end is a bit more stable behind Njoku. Seth DeValve has been a useful developmental target since joining the league out of Princeton University in 2016. After tallying 33 receptions last season — one more than Njoku — he’ll have the chance to show what the combination of another year of practice and a better quarterback situation can do to his career arc, assuming he can return to full strength after missing most of the preseason thanks to a thigh injury. Darren Fells, a 6’7, 270-pound leviathan, signed as a free agent to serve as the team’s top blocking tight end, can also be a useful safety valve when called upon.

It’s unfair to put the fortunes of an 0-16 team at Njoku’s feet. He could develop surely and strongly and still make a successful step forward with a 40-catch season. But he’s been put in a situation where he can break out thanks to a pair of quarterbacks who have utilized athletic tight ends in the past.

It’s not ideal. A rookie quarterback and a player whose Pro Bowl inclusion is a strike against the Pro Bowl aren’t going to give the Browns’ receivers the kind of boost that unlocked the potential of other athletic monsters like Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski got from future Hall of Fame QBs.

But Njoku can be a go-to player up the seam by exploiting mismatches against overwhelmed linebackers and creating big windows downfield. We’ve seen it in early in the preseason — the question is whether or not the second-year tight end can rise to the occasion on a consistent basis for a needy team in the regular season.