David Njoku — Week 2: Three Targets, Then Hurt in the Second
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Njoku caught one of three targets for nine yards, all in the first quarter; the third was a deep throw on third and five that Hezekiah Masses intercepted and returned 29 yards. He was injured on the first play of the second quarter and carted off with a knee injury, per ProFootballTalk at NBC Sports, in a 26–14 loss to the Raiders.
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David Njoku's afternoon was one quarter long. On the Chargers' first drive, first and 10 at their own 42 with 13 44 left in the first quarter, Justin Herbert threw short right and Njoku took it nine yards, pushed out at the Las Vegas 49. +0.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position. With three 29 left, second and five at the Chargers 22, a short throw to him fell incomplete. On the next snap Herbert went deep left for him, 30 yards in the air, and Hezekiah Masses intercepted it at the Las Vegas 48 and returned it 29 yards. −4.6 expected points and −13.5 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it.
The line: three targets, one catch, nine yards, no first down, −4.7 expected points on the targets, nearly all of it the interception. On the first play of the second quarter, a three-yard Omarion Hampton run from the Chargers three, the play-by-play records Njoku injured. He was carted off with a knee injury, per ProFootballTalk at NBC Sports, and his name does not appear again.
After he left, the tight-end targets went three to Charlie Kolar and two to Oronde Gadsden, who scored from 10 yards out in the third quarter.
Back in June the preview made no call on Njoku — the 20-fourth tight end at pick one 80 after a season shadowed by a knee injury that finished 20-fifth per game, a price that matched a one-year contract with under a million guaranteed, with the beat's read giving Gadsden the inside track and Njoku the two-tight-end partner's job. Week 1 tilted toward him: five targets, five catches, 58 yards, against two targets for Gadsden. Sunday he had three targets in the first quarter before anyone else at the position had one. This show will not guess at what the knee means. The split the preview asked about was going his way for five quarters, and now it waits on a medical report. The Chargers are at the Bills on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
When David Njoku's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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