Chargers’ David Njoku finds comfort zone with new team

EL SEGUNDO — David Njoku was a Cleveland Browns tight end for nine seasons, ever since they drafted him in the first round in 2017, so he said Tuesday it was difficult at first to imagine playing anywhere else. Free agency was a foreign concept for him until this year.

Then he visited with the Chargers, meeting team owner Dean Spanos, Coach Jim Harbaugh and General Manager Joe Hortiz, and, suddenly, he couldn’t imagine playing anywhere else but Los Angeles. Njoku called the recruiting process “cool” and “new” and “different.”

“I’m excited and I’m really glad to be here,” he said.

Njoku, 29, signed a one-year contract worth up to $8 million earlier this month, joining a team that was intent on building more depth and experience at the tight end position. The Chargers had already signed former Baltimore Ravens tight end Charlie Kolar, pairing him with second-year pro Oronde Gadsden.

Njoku, a Pro Bowl selection in 2023 after setting career bests with 81 catches for 882 yards and six touchdowns, gives Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert another target for the 2026 season. He also provides another big body to provide protection at a position of value for Harbaugh and Hortiz. Njoku is listed at 6-foot-4 and 246 pounds.

Overall, Njoku had 384 receptions for 4,062 yards and 34 touchdown catches in 118 games, including 88 starts, over nine seasons with the Browns.

The free agency process took more time than anyone might have expected, with his signing coming after the NFL draft and after many top players had already signed new contracts, but Njoku said he wasn’t frustrated by the process. He said he could have signed elsewhere some time ago.

“I chose to sign here because I thought it was the best fit for me,” said Njoku, who has at least four touchdown catches in five consecutive seasons. “We have a great quarterback here and head coach … so, it was literally like a cumulative of little things that made me come here.”

Pressed about leaving Cleveland after nearly a decade in a Browns uniform, he chuckled nervously and said, “I mean, it’s just business, honestly, I guess, I mean, that’s what it comes down to is just figuring out what is the best route for me. As a team, I guess it was best that we part ways. I think it was best for both parties.”

FURTHER REVIEW

Safety Tony Jefferson said he watched the plays he didn’t make last season during his offseason film sessions, including a missed opportunity for an interception during the Chargers’ 16-3 loss to the New England Patriots in an AFC wild-card game, instead of the ones he did make.

“That one beats me up,” Jefferson said without going into specifics. “It was our last game. I could have had it. A pick there would have changed the game, but I’m moving on from that. … To be honest, when I look back at the tape (from last season), for some reason, I always look at the plays I could have made, or the bad ones, more than I look at the good ones I did make.”

Jefferson had four interceptions in 13 games last season, a career high. But he said he believed he should have had “seven or eight.” He had never had more than two in a season over the course of his 11 years in the NFL, including the past two with the Chargers, who lured him from retirement in 2024.

Seven or eight interceptions is his goal for 2026.

“That’s what I’m chasing this year, to shock everybody,” he said.

NOTABLE ABSENCES

Herbert was not present for practice for the second consecutive workout open to reporters. Practice is voluntary at this stage of the spring. He also was not on the field for the Chargers’ workout on May 11. Backup quarterbacks Trey Lance and DJ Uiagalelei handled all the passing duties during drills. Wide receiver Ladd McConkey also was not on the field on Tuesday.