diff --git a/doctr/models/recognition/crnn/tensorflow.py b/doctr/models/recognition/crnn/tensorflow.py
index 5ec48c4f0e..2974fd58ec 100644
--- a/doctr/models/recognition/crnn/tensorflow.py
+++ b/doctr/models/recognition/crnn/tensorflow.py
@@ -136,15 +136,13 @@ def __init__(
         top_paths: int = 1,
         cfg: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
     ) -> None:
-        # Initialize kernels
-        h, w, c = feature_extractor.output_shape[1:]
-
         super().__init__()
+        self.feat_extractor = feature_extractor
+        h, w, c = feature_extractor.output_shape[1:]
         self.vocab = vocab
         self.max_length = w
         self.cfg = cfg
         self.exportable = exportable
-        self.feat_extractor = feature_extractor
 
         self.decoder = Sequential([
             layers.Bidirectional(layers.LSTM(units=rnn_units, return_sequences=True)),