David Njoku Fantasy Football Value With Chargers: Impact On Justin Herbert, Oronde Gadsden and More
Joe Metz breaks down the instant analysis of David Njoku's fantasy football impact with the Los Angeles Chargers.
News broke early on Monday morning that former Browns tight end David Njoku has agreed to a one-year deal for up to $8M with the Los Angeles Chargers.
What does it mean for David Njoku’s fantasy football value and the fantasy outlook for the rest of the Chargers offense? Let’s break it down.
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David Njoku Fantasy Football Value With Los Angeles Chargers
Two seasons removed from finishing as the overall TE6 in half-PPR points (2023, 10.0 FPPG), David Njoku showed a week-winning ceiling on a semi-consistent basis between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
He posted four consecutive TE3-or-better finishes in half-PPR scoring to finish the 2023 season (Weeks 14-17) and Utilization Scores of 85 or higher in six of his last seven games that season. He carried the production over into the 2024 season, and while he didn’t quite reach the same fantasy finish (TE11) as he did in 2023 (TE6), he continued to showcase his ceiling with a trio of TE2 finishes throughout the season and six total finishes of TE9 or better.
2025, however, was a very different story. The arrival of rookie TE Harold Fannin, alongside a mess of a quarterback situation and injuries, limited Njoku to a 57% route rate for the season and only three weeks of a TE9 finish or better.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routes | 78% | 74% | 57% |
| TPRR | 23% | 24% | 17% |
| Targets | 22% | 22% | 12% |
| TE1 Finishes (TE1-12) | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| Top-Five TE Finishes | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| FPPG (0.5-PPR) | 10.0 | 10.2 | 6.3 |
Joining a TE room with an ascending second-year option in Oronde Gadsden and a recently signed blocking specialist, Charlie Kolar, it feels more likely that we will see Njoku’s role and route participation resemble more of what we saw last season than what we saw during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. That said, Njoku shouldn't have trouble seeing the field, as his strengths fall somewhere in the middle of the two aforementioned TEs, with his pass-catching ability as well as his ability to be an end-line blocker.
Where Njoku should be able to make his money is in the red zone with Justin Herbert. Gadsden posted a 16% endzone target share last season, whereas Njoku posted a 20% endzone target share in 2025 and 33% in both 2023 and 2024. He’s going to profile more as a part-time player with touchdown-scoring upside than he would as a full-time option at the position, given the competition he has from Gadsden, but he’s a player worth taking a late-round shot on as a TE2 on your bench or a streaming option if you punt the position.
Fantasy Football Impact Of David Njoku Signing On Oronde Gadsden and Justin Herbert
The addition of Njoku gives QB Justin Herbert another reliable pass catcher to target in the high-leverage portions of the field. Herbert sits as the consensus QB9 in our early fantasy football rankings, and while the addition of Njoku won’t likely push that ranking up, adding a big body to target in the end zone only adds more upside to Herbert’s case entering his inaugural season with Mike McDaniel.
Oronde Gadsden, however, should see his TE10 ranking take a bit of a hit, assuming our fantasy football projections will have Njoku for a semi-healthy route participation rate as a part-time player. His fantasy football ADP of 111.0 is likely to come down, but this could be seen as a later-round value with spike-week upside given what we saw from Gadsden last season in a limited role (65% route participation). Keep in mind that Njoku missed four games in 2025, and if either tight end were to miss games this season, the other would be an immediate value for the given week.
With the loss of Keenan Allen in the wide receiver room, we could see the Njoku signing also lead to more 2TE sets with Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston as the two starting wideouts, which could cap the fantasy ceiling of WR3 Tre' Harris, too.
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