David Njoku April Fool's joke ends in thunderous clapback
Friday is April Fool’s Day, which means that everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku joined in on the “fun” on Friday with an April Fool’s joke of his own, saying that he was requesting a trade. Unfortunately for Njoku, though, he was met with a monstrous clapback after his attempted joke.
“Good Morning all, I have instructed my agent @malkikawa to seek a trade,” Njoku tweeted on Friday morning. “I want my fans to know first…”
Njoku’s tweet got NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, with Rapoport responding to the April Fool’s joke via his own Twitter account.
But while Njoku might have gotten his April Fool’s joke off, it didn’t save him from the strong response from Michael Ginnitti, the co-founder of Spotrac.
“The real April Fool would be any team giving up draft compensation for an $11M Tight End with 150 catches in 5 years,” Ginnitti tweeted.
As Ginnitti said, the Browns are paying Njoku nearly $11 million next season. His cap hit is $10.931 million. That cap hit comes from the franchise tag, as Cleveland placed the tag on him during the offseason. The two sides have until July 15 to agree to a contract extension in lieu of the franchise tag.
Rapoport later responded with an update on Njoku’s future with the Browns
The Browns selected Njoku with the 29th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Miami. With the Hurricanes, Njoku caught 64 passes for 1,060 yards and nine touchdowns in two seasons. His best year was in 2016, where Njoku hauled in 43 receptions for 698 yards and eight touchdowns.
He has since spent the previous five years in Cleveland. In his five years in the NFL, Njoku has 148 career receptions with 1,754 yards and 15 touchdowns. This past season, Njoku caught 36 passes for 475 yards and four touchdowns.
While Njoku might have fooled Rapoport with his joke about requesting a trade, Rapoport later tweeted an actual update about the tight end’s future with the Browns.
“Here is a real update, amidst this April Fool’s joke: The #Browns and TE David Njoku are in active talks on an extension, sources say, and there is confidence it can get done by the July 15 deadline,” Rapoport tweeted.