Why Browns tight end David Njoku decided to share pictures of his face on Instagram after suffering burns

BEREA, Ohio -- Browns tight end David Njoku knows the events of the Friday night before the Ravens game could have gone even worse than they did.

Njoku suffered burns to his face and arms on September 29 when he lit a fire pit.

“When it happened, my eyes were open, so I saw everything and I really should have been blinded,” Njoku said on Friday. “So luckily I’m not. So, yeah, I give all the glory to God.”

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The seventh-year tight end played against the Ravens two days later, and caught a season high six passes for 46 yards, the second-highest total of his season.

He arrived to Cleveland Browns Stadium wearing a full mask concealing his face.

“I don’t want to tell you where I found it,” he said when asked where he got the mask. “You’d laugh if I told you, so I’m not going to tell you.”

He warmed up pregame with only his nose exposed, wearing sunglasses and a mask over the lower portion of his face.

“He was adamant that he was going to make it,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game. “That’s a scary, scary thing that happened to him. So, number one, very happy that he’s okay, and that he gutted through it.”

Njoku didn’t offer up much as to his experience playing in the game so soon after the burns occurred.

“It was interesting,” he said. “I’m just going to leave it right there.”

“There are a lot of players who definitely would not have played with that happening to them less than 48 hours before the game and for good reason,” wide receiver Amari Cooper said on Thursday. “But I was actually surprised when he played as well. But it says a lot about his toughness.”

Njoku declined to get into details about the accident other than to say, “trying to have a nice little chill Friday, ended up exploding when I lit it up.”

He said it all happened so fast he didn’t have time to think about the impact it could have had on his life and career.

“Shockingly,” he said, “I’m not trying to sound like a freak, but it was kind of a rush, you know what I mean? Like that adrenaline surge.”

He added, “Obviously we have to be smarter and I’m glad that nothing drastic happened.”

On Thursday, Njoku put up a post on Instagram showing photos of his face for the first time since the accident.

“I’ve been getting a lot of messages from other burn victims and nurses that have burn victims, and they were telling me how everybody feels embarrassed to show whatever,” he said, “so I wanted just to come out forth and show myself so everyone feels a little bit better about themselves. End of the day, things heal.”

Njoku missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday but returned to practice on Friday, increasing the likelihood he could again play as he heals from the burns. He is listed as questionable.

“The way I see it, all the pain and sufferings from training in the offseason are far worse than any of this,” he said. “We really push ourselves a lot to strive to be great. So a little burn isn’t going to stop me.”

The reality is Njoku is just happy to still have the chance to play.

“The fact that I’m still breathing, I’ve still got my vision and everything,” he said, “I mentally feel great.”