Meet the Prospect: David Njoku

Name: David Njoku Position: Tight end School: Miami Ht/Wt: 6-4, 246 40 dash: 4.62 seconds (pro day) Bench: 21 reps Vertical: 40 inches (pro day) Broad: 133.0 inches 3-cone: 6.97 seconds How he fits: The Detroit Lions still have a need for a young, multidimensional threat at the tight end position.Eric Ebron ranked in the top 10 among tight ends last year in both catches (61) and yards (711), but if he has weakness, it’s that he’s not a consistent in-line blocker. The team signed veteran tight end Darren Fells in free agency this offseason. Fells is a terrific in-line blocker, but hasn’t been as productive as a pass catcher, though the Lions do have plans to utilize him more in that capacity moving forward. Njoku only started nine games in his college career, but his athleticism is hard to ignore. He led the Canes in average yards per catch (17.2) as a redshirt freshman. As a sophomore last season, he finished with 43 catches for 698 yards and eight touchdowns. He has the build and athleticism to be a monster at the position, and he’s only going to get better once he receives NFL coaching and gets into a professional weight-training program. He told reporters at the Combine that he had just 6.3 percent body fat at 246 pounds. Key observations: Njoku was a seven-foot high jumper in high school, which means he can go up and snatch a ball over just about anyone in the NFL. He had eight drops over the last two seasons for drop rate over 11 percent. What they had to say about him: “Njoku, who was the national high-jump champion (6'11") as a senior at Cedar Grove and also jumped in college, has freakish athleticism for the position that leaps off the screen, using his seam-busting speed and dynamic YAC skills to be a downfield playmaker. Njoku is a balanced blocker with potential to be above average in this area, but needs to develop his functional strength, technique and consistency. Although he is a better athlete than football player right now, Njoku is dripping with natural talent and has the elite athleticism to stress every level of the defense.” – Dane Brugler, CBSSports.com How he stacks up: Just about every draft analyst has Njoku as the second-best tight end available behind Alabama’s O.J. Howard in this deep class of tight ends. CBSSports.com list Njoku as the No. 20 overall prospect. He comes in at No. 13 on Scouts Inc.’s Top 32 Big Board and is the 12th-best prospect overall, according to NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah. What he had to say: “I love competition. I was the national high jump champion in high school at like 220 pounds. The next jumper was 30 pounds lighter. I love competing, so once people told me to stay (in school another year), that made me want to declare even more because I want to go against the greats.”