David Njoku injury: status, history and who gets his targets if he is out

Los Angeles Chargers · Tight end · status this week: on bye in week 7 · last report: ON RESERVE / IR (ESPN)

Checked Oct 21, 2026.

Over his 9 full seasons on record, David Njoku played 118 of 149 regular-season games (79%), and 2 of 6 so far in 2026. Season by season.

No absence modeled for week 7. The Los Angeles Chargers are on their bye in week 7, so there is no game for him to miss and no absence to model this week. This page showed who gained while his absence was modeled earlier this season; that table returns whenever the model covers him again. His status and injury history below are current.

Injury history

Over his 9 full seasons on record, David Njoku played 118 of 149 regular-season games (79%), and 2 of 6 so far in 2026.

Season	Team	Played	Missed	Listed out	Questionable	Injuries listed
2026	LAC	2 of 6	4	0	0	—
2025	CLE	12 of 17	5	5	1	Knee
2024	CLE	11 of 17	6	5	3	Ankle, Hamstring, Knee
2023	CLE	16 of 17	1	0	2	Face, Hand
2022	CLE	14 of 17	3	3	1	Ankle, Knee
2021	CLE	16 of 17	1	0	2	Knee, Shoulder
2020	CLE	13 of 16	3	0	1	Knee
2019	CLE	4 of 16	12	1	0	Concussion
2018	CLE	16 of 16	0	0	2	Knee
2017	CLE	16 of 16	0	0	0	—

Regular season only. Games played counts games with at least one offensive snap; designations are from the official weekly injury report, which does not list players on injured reserve, so a long absence shows as missed games rather than as weeks listed out.

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

When a team’s number-one tight end does not play, what each position group gains:

Room	Receptions gained	n	t
Receivers	+0.107	2,160	2.29
Tight ends	+0.492	1,024	9.57
Backs	-0.045	1,259	-0.92

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

David Njoku’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 7