Oronde Gadsden Fantasy Football Outlook For 2026: Building On Last Year's Boom Games
Ian Hartitz examines the competition for targets between Oronde Gadsden and David Njoku to be TE1 for the Los Angeles Chargers.
We know what's in there for Oronde Gadsden because we've seen it. Going for almost 400 yards and a pair of scores in a four-week timeframe will be just what gets fantasy football managers happy to take a flier on a player late in drafts. Will it pay off? Ian Hartitz breaks it down as part of his Los Angeles Chargers Team Preview.
Does Oronde Gadsden still have big-time upside with David Njoku in town?
- TE1: Oronde Gadsden (TE16 in Fantasy Life ranks)
- TE2: David Njoku (TE30)
- TE3: Charlie Kolar
On the one hand, David Njoku was outplayed by rookie Harold Fannin in 2025, but injuries (as has been the case more years than not recently) kept "Chief" from operating at his typical level. The former first-round pick did a LOT of really good things during the 2022-2024 seasons when trusted as Cleveland's clear-cut No. 1 TE, posting 58-628-4, 81-882-6 and 64-505-5 receiving lines—good for TE8, TE7 and TE4 finishes in PPR points per game.
But what version of Njoku are the Chargers getting? The fact he didn't sign until May is a bit troubling, especially when the one-year contract only wound up including $850,000 guaranteed. Turning 30 in July, it's more likely than not that the best years of Njoku's career are in the rearview mirror.
This brings us to Gadsden, who blew up fantasy football with 7-68-0, 7-164-1, 5-77-1 and 5-68-0 receiving lines in Weeks 6-9 … before averaging just 27 yards per game the rest of the way. Again, the offensive line injuries didn't help, and we saw similar dropoffs everywhere, but unlike with the offense's wide receivers, we now have more direct competition at hand for Gadsden, not less.
Our fantasy football projections, of course, have Gadsden leading the group, but he comes out as just the TE17 in half-PPR. I'm a touch lower (my TE21), but hey, two Fantasy Life rankers have him inside the 13. This is the sort of talent and offensive environment we want to target—Gadsden will be a major post-Week 1 riser if we see a legit full-time role come to fruition, but I'm pretty doubtful that happens.
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