The Chargers signed David Njoku to a one-year deal worth up to $8 million on Monday morning, adding the 29-year-old (30 in July) to a tight end room that already includes Oronde Gadsden II and Charlie Kolar. The Chargers’ offense will look different in 2026 with Mike McDaniel calling the shots, and McDaniel has loaded up on bigger personnel this offseason with Njoku and Kolar joining and Alec Ingold following him from Miami.
DAVID NJOKU
- Under McDaniel, the Dolphins had the third-lowest rate of 11 personnel in both 2024 and 2025, via Sports Info Solutions. Given that Los Angeles has little proven WR3 depth after Quentin Johnston — though Tre’ Harris showed intermittent flashes last year — we should expect pretty low usage of three-plus WRs once again. That means at least two of Njoku, Gadsden, Ingold, and Kolar can be on the field at the same time.
- Additionally, it’ll be interesting to see what Njoku has left in the tank. He averaged 5.2 yards per target in 2024 and 6.1 in 2025, albeit with poor quarterback play, and he’s played 23 combined games over the last two seasons. He was usurped by Harold Fannin Jr. last year and caught five total passes over his final four healthy games despite recording at least a 49% snap rate in all four appearances. He was a free agent until mid-May. This is all to say that there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about what Njoku has left as he enters his age-30 season. He also got up to $8 million on a one-year deal; the Chargers are paying Kolar $24.3 million over three years, and he’s the best blocker in the room.
- With that being said, it’s also fair to question how much Gadsden can play after he recorded just a 55.6% snap rate over LAC’s final four games last year, and he might be best cast as a big WR rather than a true every-down TE. Between that concern and Kolar’s lack of pass-catching ability, there will be snaps for Njoku, but given how crowded the TE room is and how inefficient Njoku has been over the last two years, it’s difficult to get too excited about him for fantasy.
OTHER CHARGERS PASS CATCHERS
- The most interesting question is what this does for Gadsden’s value. Over a six-game stretch from Weeks 6-11 in 2025, Gadsden averaged 4.8 catches for 71.9 yards per game, admittedly buoyed by a monster 164-yard output in Week 7. After that, he averaged just 26.2 yards per game over the final six games of his rookie campaign, and his snap and route numbers suffered during that time as well when Los Angeles moved away from him as a full-time tight end. Gadsden is small by NFL TE standards and may not be able to hang in a full-time role, and the Chargers’ decisions to add Kolar and Njoku this offseason support that notion. It’s also worth mentioning that McDaniel merely inherited Gadsden, whereas he specifically sought out Kolar and Njoku. Gadsden is clearly the best pass-catching tight end on the roster, and Jonnu Smith had a career season in 2024 under McDaniel while playing only 55.0% of snaps, so there’s still a ceiling there. But adding another TE is a real dock on Gadsden’s outlook.
- We had unassigned target share in Los Angeles, so we didn’t have to dock either Ladd McConkey or Johnston to fit Njoku, but it’ll be interesting to see who plays in 1-WR sets for the Chargers. We could realistically see sets with three TEs or with two TEs and Ingold, which would leave room for only one WR on the field (unless Ingold takes the RB’s spot). McConkey is the clear WR1 here from a target share and fantasy standpoint, but that’s different from being the one wideout on the field in 1-WR sets. This is an additional signal that the Chargers want to use a lot of bigger personnel groups, which is good for McConkey and QJ’s TPRR, though.
