LAC · TE
Projected Points (PPR)
This week
No projection changes recorded this week.
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David Njoku enters this season in a role he has not occupied since his early years in the league: the second tight end on his own team's depth chart, with Oronde Gadsden ahead of him as the primary target at the position. In 2025 he still logged 64.3% of the offensive snaps and 48 targets across 12 games, producing 33 receptions for 293 yards and four touchdowns, a workload that finished him at TE34 in PPR scoring. Through two games in the new setup, that share has dropped to 54.5%, and his target count sits at eight, with six catches for 67 yards. He has one red-zone target so far this year, compared to eight across last season, a signal that the scoring chances near the goal line are being spread elsewhere or simply have not arrived yet. The volume he is seeing now still keeps him on the field on early downs, but the target competition from Gadsden inside that same room changes who the ball is designed to find first. This is a complementary role, not a featured one, and the numbers through two weeks bear that out even as his catch rate ticks up to 75%.
The case for David Njoku starts with continuity. He has been a target for Justin Herbert type quarterbacks throughout his career, understands how to work underneath coverage, and his catch rate this season, 75% on eight targets, is actually higher than last year's 68.8% mark on a larger sample. His yards per reception have also climbed from 8.9 in 2025 to 11.2 so far in 2026, suggesting that when the ball does go his way, he is doing more with it, not just checking down. If Justin Herbert continues to spread targets and finds matchups where Njoku draws favorable coverage, particularly against smaller defenders who struggle with his frame, there is a path to a bigger week here or there. The case against him is built on where he sits in the pecking order. Oronde Gadsden occupies the primary tight end role in this offense, and that alignment matters more than raw talent when it comes to weekly target competition. Njoku's snap share fell from 64.3% last season to 54.5% through two games this year, a meaningful drop that suggests his role is shrinking rather than growing. His red-zone looks have all but disappeared, with just one target inside the twenty compared to eight over the entirety of last season, and touchdowns for tight ends are almost always won in that specific area of the field. His overall PPR finish sits at TE27 through two games, essentially the same tier as his TE34 finish across the full previous season, which tells you the sample size has not changed the verdict: this is a low-end contributor, not a target hog. The honest read is that Njoku's per-target efficiency numbers look fine in isolation, but efficiency without volume caps his ceiling hard. A tight end catching six of eight targets for 67 yards in a two-game window is a nice trivia note, not a fantasy difference-maker, especially when the quarterback throwing him the ball, Justin Herbert, has other established options to lean on, and when the primary receiving tight end job in the building belongs to Oronde Gadsden. Unless something changes structurally, whether Gadsden's role dips or the offense finds ways to get Njoku more red-zone work, the numbers point to a depth piece who occasionally flashes rather than a weekly answer. His floor is thin because his role is thin, and his ceiling depends on plays that have not been showing up so far this season.
Leave David Njoku on the wire or bench him if you already rostered him coming off last season's numbers. His snap share fell from 64.3% to 54.5%, and with Oronde Gadsden holding the primary tight end job in an offense run by Justin Herbert, there is not enough clear pathway to consistent targets to justify a roster spot in most formats. His current pace, 12.7 PPR points through two games, is not a full-season sample, but it lines up with the low-end producer profile his 2025 season already established at TE34. If you are deep in a tight end premium league or need bye-week filler, he is a thin flex option in a pinch given his catch rate sits at 75% early on, but he should not be a plan. What would change the calculus: a sustained uptick in red-zone usage beyond the single target he has seen so far, a stretch where his snap share climbs back toward last year's 64.3% level, or clear signs that Gadsden's role is not absorbing the majority of the tight end target share. Until one of those shows up in the numbers, treat him as speculative streaming material rather than a name to build around, and check the waiver wire each week before turning to him.
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Njoku exited with a knee injury and was carted to the locker room. He is questionable to return, so fantasy managers should immediately prepare a backup at tight end.
Sep 20, 5:50 PM ET