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Harold Fannin Jr. #44 of the Cleveland Browns

One of the nice things for the Cleveland Browns this offseason, as they’ve set about rebuilding their woeful wide-receiver room, has been the fact that their most productive target on the roster is not a receiver at all. It’s tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who had a remarkable rookie season after he was a third-round pick in 2023.

Fannin finished the year as the Browns’ leading receiver by a wide margin, with 72 catches and 731 yards, going for six touchdowns. No other pass-catcher on the roster had more than 50 catches last season, and in an offense that ranked as the worst in the NFL, Fannin was the brightest spot.

And with question marks concerning rookies KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, was well as No. 1 receiver Jerry Jeudy and second-year man Isaiah Bond, having Fannin on board allows for a certain level of patience and leeway for the WRs.

Harold Fannin Practiced With Browns in April, but Not in May or June

The only problem is that Fannin was not an active participant this spring for the Browns. He was on the field in April during the team’s Phase 1 practices, but he did not participate in OTAs or in mandatory minicamp.

As Zac Jackson of The Athletic reported, “What’s obvious is the Browns have upgraded their pass-catching group, and that’s with rising star tight end Harold Fannin Jr. sitting out the spring.”

The Browns are not obligated to report on injuries at this time of year–they’re not obligated until we get to Week 1, in fact. But Fannin had a groin injury that ended his season a week early last year, and there is at least some concern that perhaps his absence is related to that. But it would be strange that Fannin had the groin issue, came back and practiced in April, then sat out in May.

As the podcast site, “The Dawgs” pointed out, there is hope that the team is just being careful with Fannin: “Hopefully, this is all just precautionary. The biggest concern is the April participation followed by the May absence. But I won’t be overly concerned until we get to training camp.”

Browns TE Coach: ‘Hell of a Job Staying Engaged’

Even in his absence, Browns tight end coach Jeff Blasko said that Fannin has maintained a connection with the playbook and is progressing in his understanding of the offense. Blasko had no details on why Fannin is sitting out, but he’d kept up on his studies.

Said Blasko: “I think he has done a hell of a job of staying engaged day-to-day, obviously this has been a process. Phase 1 we introduced the system to the players, Phase 2, we repeated, OTAs, you come back around and do it again. Training camp, you’ll get it. But I think he has done a very good job of staying on top of the details. I am very impressed with that focus, that’s a challenge when you’re not out there repping every day.”

George Kittle ‘A Fan of’ Harold Fannin

Also noteworthy for the Browns’ second-year man: It was revealed this week that he has a fan in one of the best tight ends in the game, George Kittle. During an Appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Kittle pulled out Fannin as one of his favorite young tight ends.

“One guy who I am a fan of who is going to be very talented, is Fannin Jr. from the Browns,” Kittle said. “… I have watched plenty of his tape, and when we played the Browns, this past year, he had an awesome touchdown. He’s a very talented player. Moves fast, has a good sense of space, can win on man-to-man, catches everything, and gives great effort in the run game. He has impressed me a ton. I’m excited about him.”