This is all good and well, Joe, but he was supposed to launch last year in a pass-first offense with the crafty Kellen Moore at OC and he failed spectacularly to do so. Ok, this might be a slight overreaction… the Chargers did have Keenan Allen and Mike Williams ahead of QJ on the depth chart, as well as Austin Ekeler and Gerald Everett. But the point remains that the Chargers are likely to deploy a much more run-focused offensive attack in 2024, and that doesn’t bode well for a pass catcher who was having trouble even seeing the field in his rookie season.
Johnston ran a route on just 63% of dropbacks in 2023 while also being outperformed by Allen, Williams, and even Josh Palmer in other key metrics (YPRR, TPRR, etc). The good news for Johnston in 2024 is that it’s likely to be open season this summer for targets in the LA offense; the bad news is that the number of available targets by default in the offense is likely to come way down from the 65/35 split Kellen Moore ran last year. A vote of confidence from the new GM is never a bad thing for a struggling second year WR, and given the state of the Chargers WR room we can’t just write off Johnston at this point. He’s a deep, deep sleeper and worth consideration as a dart throw in the final rounds of fantasy drafts.