Quentin Johnston Is Officially on Notice After NFL Draft, Even If No One Is Saying It

There's limited time for Quentin Johnston to make an impression with Mike McDaniel now on the Chargers.

Quentin Johnston | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Chargers picked up the fifth-year option for wide receiver Quentin Johnston around the NFL draft. 

In our deep-dive analysis of the Chargers picking up Johnston’s option, it generally vibed as a really good move for the franchise. It’s an affordable clip for a still-ascending player at a key position for Justin Herbert’s offense. 

Given the contract happenings, the discourse around Johnston being on a hot seat or similar sort of went away in a hurry. 

But it’s never that simple in the NFL. 

The fifth-year option is one thing, but Johnston still realizing his potential is another. 

NFL draft, contract updates don’t fully take Quentin Johnston off hot seat

Quentin Johnston | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Good business by the Chargers: As a former first-rounder, Johnston is a $4.5 million cap hit in 2026, then the fifth-year option should roughly check in at $18 million in 2027. 

Also good business? 

That affordable fifth year doesn’t guarantee playing time. 

Johnston has dealt with bad, fired coaching staff situations since joining the Chargers, never mind the drop issues. But he’s scored eight touchdowns in back-to-back seasons and has boosted himself in key areas, like contested catches. 

"Very proud of him. He's taken his own career by the hands. He's been super intentional. You can see him working off to the side, perfecting his footwork," Chargers wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal told Eric Smith of Chargers.com. "Prior to the game, he gets out there really early and kind of goes through the mental steps of all his routes. You can see him walking them on the field.”

But there’s no guarantee Johnston winds up as a good fit in Mike McDaniels’ offense. He should, but the depth chart is stacked: 

• Ladd McConkey
• Tre Harris
• KeAndre Lambert-Smith
• Brenen Thompson

We don’t know how McDaniel feels or uses Harris and Lambert-Smith just yet, but the sophomores figure to be a big part of the reason the Chargers didn’t really make major moves at wideout this offseason while reinvigorating the offense. 

The big exception was the rookie Thompson, a 4.26 speedster who figures to be a situational gadget player in the typical McDaniel mold. 

All of this is to say that Johnston’s cash numbers are affordable enough for the Chargers to not really blink if he winds up missing a big percentage of the snaps over the next two years because guys around him emerge better in the McDaniel offense. 

And if that happens, outsiders would go right back to wondering, though unlikely, whether the team would move him. 

This is getting ahead of things, no doubt. But outsiders really don’t know exactly what McDaniel might settle on and if it will work out for Johnston, snap-count wise. And while that fifth-year option seems to guarantee much, Jim Harbaugh teams have a way of ignoring those types of factors when the pads are on and playing time gets decided. 

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