Last season, Oronde Gadsden emerged as a breakout tight end for the Los Angeles Chargers. He was a fantasy football darling for a time as a rookie but was supplanted this offseason by the signings of two more experienced players at the position. Things in the NFL change quickly, though.
Now, both of those other guys are headed to IR for at least four weeks, clearing a pathway to targets in an offense that needs some help. Is Oronde Gadsden a player to pick up and start in Week 3 fantasy lineups?
Should you start Oronde Gadsden in Week 3?
Last season, Oronde Gadsden averaged a solid 8.8 FPPG in PPR formats and finished as the overall TE15 in fantasy football. The per-game production may not sound like that much, but the then-rookie totaled 69 targets with 49 catches, 664 receiving yards and three touchdowns over the course of 15 games. He caught fire for a brief stretch around the midseason mark, posting double-digit points in out straight outings while averaging 17.93 FPPG. During that span he flashed upside that only a select number of other tight ends bring to the table, but he did settle back down with just two double-digit performances from Week 10 and beyond.
There was chatter that Gadsden could truly break out heading into the 2026-27 season once Mike McDaniel was hired as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator. After all, his receiving ability and downfield threat did seem like a clear match for the incoming coordinator’s personnel preferences from his time with the Miami Dolphins. However, that dream dissipated when the front office signed Charlie Kolar to a three-year contract and brought in David Njoku on a one-year deal, pushing Gadsden down to third on the depth chart.
The second-year talent ran just a handful of routes in a Week 1 loss and caught just two passes for 32 yards to score 5.2 PPR points. In Week 2, he again saw only two targets and hauled in both for 18 yards, but one of those went for a touchdown to salvage his fantasy day with 9.8 points. Developments during that second game do have Gadsden poised for a potential breakout, however.
Kolar and Njoku were both injured during Los Angeles’ loss. After further evaluation, the pair are now headed to IR with a fibula injury for the former and a forearm issue for the latter – leaving them sidelined for at least four weeks. That paves the runway for Gadsden to vault up the depth chart and serve as the top tight end moving forward, at least in the immediate future.
Those injuries are unfortunate for the other two names involved, and really, for the Chargers as a whole since the team dropped its first two games in upset losses. For Gadsden’s fantasy outlook – and his career to an extent – the circumstances are certainly favorable. While he was supplanted on the depth chart, he’ll now step in and play the majority of snaps on an offense that’s in desperate need of some additional juice. Los Angeles has just 401 passing yards through two games and has struggled to adjust to McDaniel’s offense. Could the addition of a true receiving threat like Gadsden help remedy that? Perhaps it could.
There’s no denying that the tight end has a ton of upside as a pass-catching weapon. He averaged just over three catches per game as a rookie but finished with five or more receptions in five of his first seven NFL games; he also tallied 60+ receiving yards four times over his 15 contests while operating fairly deep down the pecking order for targets. He does bring standout ability to stretch the field and get open across the middle; his shortcomings as a blocker have just kept him off the field. The team isn’t in a position to worry about those blocking issues, though. He’s going to play a ton over the next few weeks.
Don’t expect Gadsden to post top-five numbers at the position by any means, but he could easily emerge as a start-worthy fantasy asset as soon as Week 3. He brings far more upside than most tight ends on the waiver wire and should be considered a priority add if he’s available. If he’s already on your roster, there’s a case to slot him into lineups even over a name like Kyle Pitts, who’s underperformed over the first couple weeks of the season. In a matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, there’s a good chance the Chargers’ offense starts to turn things around in what could become a pass-happy game script. As such, pencil Gadsden in as a back-end TE1 with room for more.
