After starting the season healthy, rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II has been one of the more pleasant surprises for the Los Angeles Chargers this season.
In his first nine NFL games, Gadsden had 37 receptions for 507 yards and two touchdowns. He quickly emerged as a much-needed explosive play threat for a stuck-in-the-mud offense.
Yet over his last five games, Gadsden has only 12 targets, hauling in seven receptions for 102 yards during that span. In the Chargers’ victory against the Dallas Cowboys, he received only one target.
What happened to Gadsden, and does Los Angeles have enough offensive juice to make room for him for the rest of the season?
Oronde Gadsden II left out of Chargers’ passing attack
For the Chargers, Gadsden’s escape was a revelation. Although they have a solid pass-catching core in Keenan Allen, Ladd McConkey, and Quentin Johnston, the team desperately needed an additional threat to turn to as an outlet in the middle of the field.
With Will Dissly and Tyler Conklin unavailable or strangely ineffective, Gadsden filled an immediate need. However, aside from the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Justin Herbert hasn’t turned to his tight end in recent matchups.
Part of the equation has been the re-emergence of the team’s passing offense, particularly on the ground. The offensive line finally put together enough protection to give Herbert enough time to even examine targets such as Johnston and McConkey.
Additionally, Tre’Harris’ emergence as a receiving threat has also reduced Gadsden’s targets. In their game on Sunday, Harris caught four receptions on five targets for 54 yards.
However, this is not the complete answer. Against the Cowboys, even Dissly surpassed Gadsden in targets, catching three receptions for 28 yards. Dissly is a solid tight end blocker, and it would have been surprising to see him held out of action for the rest of the season given the team’s protection issues.
Therefore, in many ways, Gadsden’s fade is ironically a sign of better health in the team’s offensive structure. They’re heading toward a wide variety of targets from game to game, meaning more options are available to them now than at many points in the season.
Gadsden’s decline in production, as painful as it may be to the many fans he earned through his early-season performance (and to his fantasy managers), is a necessary symptom of the offensive style Los Angeles continues to play.
