Cleveland Browns tight end, David Njoku, revealed the story of the “bonfire” that burned more than 17% of his body two days before the game against rival Baltimore Ravens during a video interview Friday, where he shared shocking photos of his injuries.
The 27-year-old Njoku explained that he was enjoying a weekly, Friday night bonfire in his backyard on September 29, until he tried a spray lighter fluid on the logs. “I guess the lighter fluid was still in the air…so when I lit it up, it just exploded,” he said.
“I saw the fire come from my wrist, and just blow up in my face,” Njoku described. “I didn’t really feel the pain, cause it just happened so fast.”
Njoku “waited until the next day to call Browns head trainer Joe Sheehan,” and as of Saturday, September 30, the Browns had announced three backups for the tight end, who has started every game in the season, and told reporters that Njoku was “listed as questionable for Sunday’s NFL game against Baltimore after suffering face and arm burns in a household accident.”
Njoku’s doctor, Dr. Joseph Khouri, Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery, at University Hospitals, said the player had second-degree partial-thickness burns, which involve the top two layers of the skin.
“Probably the most painful burn you can have.” Dr. Khouri explained.
“My recommendation was to not play,” Dr. Khouri said. “If this was you or me off the street this wouldn’t work because we are human. David’s another species.”
David Njoku #85 of the Cleveland Browns warms up prior to an NFL football game between the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns at Empower Field at Mile High on November 26, 2023, in Denver, Colorado. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Njoku was determined to play the game against the rival Ravens and to do everything he could to make it happen. So, on Sunday, October 1, Njoku entered the locker room wearing a double-layered mask that would protect his burned skin from the helmet.
“Even putting that mask on and taking it off, bits and pieces of my skin would come off every time,” Njoku recalled.
But, Njoku was undaunted. “This was a personal game, so I was not going to miss this game,” he said.
Nkobu had six catches for 46 yards during the game, through excruciating pain.
“‘Every single play, whether I got the ball or not, my helmet hitting my face I felt it every single time,’ Njoku told NFL Countdown on November 19,” the Akron Beacon Journal reported. “When I wasn’t even doing anything, the sweat was dripping and everything would sting. It was intense.”
He said he came in after the game and looked at himself in the mirror. “My face was tore up,” he said, and took the photo that he posted in Instagram:
His hands received deep, painful burns and blisters as well.
Njoku is taking his story to burn victims and has started a merchandise line that donates a part of the proceeds to the American Burn Association.