Yahoo Sports NFL on Quentin Johnston
From the article
Johnston is once again an enormously high-leverage player in the Chargers' offense...Johnston could benefit most from coordinator Mike McDaniel's offense.
STACKED’s take
Solak names Johnston Chargers' X-factor; upside tied to deep-ball execution in McDaniel's scheme.
ESPN's Ben Solak named Johnston the Chargers' biggest X-factor for 2026 due to his potential in Mike McDaniel's offense alongside Ladd McConkey. Johnston is one of the league's preeminent vertical receivers with average speed of 15.08 mph (eighth among all receivers, second among players over 200 pounds). While his drop rate is reasonable at 3.3% over three seasons, his deep targets have been unreliable due to poor tracking, positioning, and physicality. McDaniel's offense excels at creating YAC for speedy athletes on intermediate routes, but Johnston's true upside hinges on connecting on downfield routes—if he delivers, the Chargers can put secondaries in an impossible bind by forcing them to respect both intermediate crossers and deep shots with Justin Herbert at quarterback.
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