Joe Flacco threw the ball 45 times in the Cleveland Browns' season-opening loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and though he distributed fairly evenly among his pass-catchers, Flacco's favorite target was not the team's top receiver Jerry Jeudy, nor was it David Njoku, with whom Flacco had a great connection back in 2023. That honor went to rookie Harold Fannin Jr., who lined up all over the field filling a variety of roles, and was more involved in the offense than many expected, and for good reason.
Fannin played fewer snaps than Jeudy, Njoku, and Cedric Tillman, but he made the most of them, hauling in seven of his nine targets for 63 yards and putting up an extremely impressive blocking performance, showing significant improvement since his college days just a few months ago.
Flacco's Top Target
He was targeted primarily in the shorter area of the field and was involved in the screen game, but his biggest play of the afternoon came in the first clip below where he motioned out of the right side of the backfield and ended up in the shallow flat. Flacco escaped the pocket to his right and Fannin stood there watching it happen before leaking out behind the cornerback and coming open down the sideline where Flacco hit him for a 22-yard gain.
Fannin may be undersized for a tight end, but the Browns didn't use him as a traditional in-line TE, and they got the most out of him on Sunday because of it. Defensive backs had a difficult time dealing with him, especially once he had the ball in his hands.
Creating Yards After the Catch
In the first clip below, Fannin catches a short buttonhook, turns around, and lowers his shoulder into the oncoming defender who, despite having all the momentum in the collision, bounces right off Fannin, who requires three more white jerseys to bring him down.