Quentin Johnston has spent three seasons proving my evaluation of him wrong in small increments. Everything about his profile says he shouldn’t be relevant. Instead, he has been a useful fantasy receiver two years running, and Los Angeles just cleared a path for it to continue. Fantasy managers should ask whether the historical case against him still applies.
Should You Draft Quentin Johnston in Fantasy Football?
As of early September, in PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, Johnston is going off the board around that 107 range, so that’s an 11th-round pick depending on how many people are in your league, give or take. PFN’s fantasy experts Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe are much higher on Johnston than the consensus. They have him as the 76th overall player in their fantasy football rankings this year, with a projected 11.68 points per game in PPR leagues, and that comes out to WR35 overall.
Johnston is going into a key fourth year, and you don’t necessarily know what the future’s going to look like for him with the Chargers. As a first-round pick, he arguably hasn’t lived up to expectations, but to be fair, he’s steadied out. The rookie year was rough, but he’s shown that he can be a solid contributor and play a big role in that Chargers offense.
Each of the last two seasons, he’s had over 50 catches, 8 receiving touchdowns, and over 700 receiving yards. Granted, he’s missed a little time due to injury. He missed 3 games last year and 2 games in 2024. But he was WR27 in fantasy last year and WR36 the year before that. Having him at WR35 is about on par, maybe even a little less than what he’s produced in past years.
Granted, the Chargers overhauled their tight end room. In addition to Oronde Gadsden, they brought in David Njoku and Charlie Kolar. There are some faces at tight end that might eat into his targets a little bit.
But at the same time, Justin Herbert didn’t throw the ball as often as he did in years past. You’re looking at a Greg Roman offense that was pretty run-heavy, and his passing production did tend to fall compared to how things were in years prior under different coaching staffs and different offensive coordinators. But with Mike McDaniel, I still anticipate they’re going to run the ball a decent amount.
Johnston has significant touchdown upside considering his ball skills and his sheer size, and we’ve seen him produce well at the NFL level from a touchdown perspective. I don’t know if he’s going to have the highest ceiling in the world, the kind of guy who’s going to be a top-15 fantasy option. I don’t really see a path for that with all those tight ends I listed and then Ladd McConkey and Tre Harris on top of it. But I do think Johnston is going to be a solid producer.
I’m not going to go as far as agreeing with the 76 ranking. Sorry Katz and Soppe, love you guys. But I do think that an ADP of 107 is really good value for Johnston, especially when you consider the touchdown upside that he has. He’s somebody I’d definitely consider recommending as a borderline flex option, but realistically more high-end depth at wide receiver. I think he can start for you in a pinch, whether it’s bye weeks or injuries, and I think he could be really good value at 107 if he’s around in that ADP range.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
Quentin Johnston’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
Johnston scored twice in Week 1 last season and went consecutive games without a touchdown just once in all of 2025. He’s now scored 8 times in consecutive seasons, and while his next 60-catch season will be his first as a pro, this is a player who has a singular skill that puts him on our radar.
And now, with Mike McDaniel moving the chess pieces, we could see QJ unlocked at a level that we thought we were in the midst of just 11 months ago. I don’t think the hard part here is the handicap, but rather how to use him given that he didn’t cost you much over the summer (he was a fringe top-100 player, slotting in the WR40 range).
I like him more than you (he’s a low-end WR3 for me), but my opinion wasn’t reflected by the industry, and that means that you landed Johnston after you already had three, if not four, wideouts on your roster.
How different is Johnston from DK Metcalf? He needs a touchdown to pay off your trust.
The baseline is similar, but the profile really isn’t. Johnston has his best football in front of him with a QB who is on the same developmental plan in the center of an offense loaded with creative potential.
Metcalf has none of those things, but he was going 2 to 3 rounds ahead of him in drafts this summer, and that has you defaulting to playing him in a head-to-head like this.
The Cards allowed 68 red-zone drives in 2025, tied with the Jets for the most in the league. Usually, I’d slow play an inconsistent WR like this in a new system, but in this matchup with the optimistic tone around a new-look offense, I’m not.
He’s a solid WR3 for me to open the season and a flex if your league only requires two starting receivers.
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Where Johnston Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Davante Adams | LAR
- Josh Downs | IND
- Brian Thomas Jr. | JAX
- DK Metcalf | PIT
- Michael Pittman Jr. | PIT
- Quentin Johnston | LAC
- Mike Evans | SF
- Jayden Reed | GB
- Stefon Diggs | WAS
- Jakobi Meyers | JAX
- Wan’Dale Robinson | TEN
More rankings can be found in PFN’s PPR Wide Receiver Rankings.
