Tennessee Titans second-year tight end, Chig Okonkwo, may be one of the best-kept secrets in all of football.
Whenever you hear national media outlets or non-Titans fans discussing the best young tight ends in the league, you hardly hear the Maryland product’s name being brought up.
Despite not having the national recognition as of yet, Okonkwo consistently showed signs of a budding star every single time he stepped on the field, at least from Week 9 on.
He led all rookie tight ends in receiving yards (450) and touchdowns (three), even though he was relegated to a limited role for much of the first eight weeks.
This type of production is a large reason why the second-year playmaker cracked Pro Football Focus’ top-15 tight end rankings.
John Kosko of PFF had the Titans’ tight end in his third tier, coming in at No. 13 overall. Kosko stated the following in regards to Okonkwo’a ranking:
We want to see Okonkwo receive an expanded role to show what he can do with more targets because what he did on 48 targets as a rookie in 2022 was spectacular.
He led all tight ends in yards per route run (2.61) and ranked third in receiving grade at 84.6. His ranking on the list might be generous but in a league that’s searching for young talent at the position, Okonkwo has the ability to become a difference-maker at the position.
Okonkwo is one of the few young players in the league who undoubtedly passes the film, analytics, and production test.
Even the parts of his game that weren’t necessarily a strength of his got better as time went on. For example, Chig’s blocking was considered one of his glaring weaknesses throughout the pre-draft process.
However, that part of his game steadily improved as well. According to PFF, the former Terp only allowed one blown block on the year.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that it’s Okonkwo’s abilities as a pass-catcher that truly make him special.
To put his eye-opening production into better perspective, over the last five years, Okonkwo is one of five players who produced a season where they accounted for more than:
- 0.35 EPA/target
- 7.9 YAC/reception
- 30 receptions
The other four players to accomplish this feat were: Ja’Marr Chase (2021), Deebo Samuel (2021), A.J. Brown (2019), and George Kittle (2018).
If the Maryland product can replicate and/or surpass this type of production in Year 2, it’s safe to say we’ll see the Titans’ tight ranked much higher on next year’s list.
