David Njoku Visiting Chargers: LA's Tight End Room Is a Problem Worth Solving

Per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, tight end David Njoku has a visit scheduled with the Los Angeles Chargers early next week, making him one of the most significant remaining free agents still in play this offseason. Njoku spent all nine years of his career in Cleveland, where he posted 384 receptions for 4,062 yards and 34 touchdowns — numbers that establish him as a proven, durable contributor, not a reclamation project.

Njoku's 2025 season was abbreviated — 12 games, 33 catches, 293 yards, four touchdowns — but the underlying profile hasn't changed. He's a size-speed tight end who can threaten the seam, win in the red zone, and handle an expanded role if the system demands it. He already visited Baltimore last month, which tells you the market for him hasn't dried up; it just hasn't closed. A 29-year-old tight end with his production track record shouldn't be sitting in late April, which suggests the contract gap between his asks and what teams are offering is real — but so is the talent.

The Chargers' current tight end room — Oronde Gadsden and Charlie Kolar — is functional but not threatening. Gadsden showed flashes in 2024, and Kolar is a reliable blocker, but neither commands the kind of defensive attention that reshapes a play-caller's weekly game plan. Justin Herbert is entering his prime years under a new offensive staff, and the front office has invested heavily in the skill positions around him. Adding Njoku would give Herbert a legitimate red-zone weapon and a reliable intermediate target that the current TE depth chart simply doesn't offer.

From a prop-betting perspective, this visit matters most in how it would redistribute targets in Los Angeles. Herbert threw for 3,870 yards last season, and his receiving corps is currently built around Ladd McConkey and Joshua Palmer at wideout. If Njoku lands in LA and earns a featured role, expect his receiving yards and receptions props to open conservatively — books will anchor him to his 2025 per-game pace, around 24 yards and 2.8 catches per game. But in a competent passing system with a quarterback of Herbert's caliber, those lines deserve upward pressure. Njoku averaged 56 receiving yards per game in 2023 when Cleveland's offense actually ran through him. The usage upside is real.

For Herbert, adding a legitimate receiving tight end would likely push his passing yards props higher — a true TE threat opens the middle of the field and creates the kind of underneath structure that sustains drives. If this deal gets done before training camp, Herbert's over/under passing yards line — which figures to open somewhere in the 4,100–4,300 range — becomes more interesting on the over. Watch this space when the signing materializes.