Tennessee Titans 2022 fourth-round pick and tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo was one of the few bright spots for the team’s disastrous offense last season.
Okonkwo led all rookie tight ends in receiving yards with 450, and he scored three touchdowns in the process. Making those stats more impressive is the fact that Chig wasn’t utilized much until halfway through the season.
Despite his Year 1 success, Okonkwo isn’t resting on his laurels and says he’s “ready to grind” this offseason so he can improve for Year 2.
“My feeling is, now that (my rookie) season is over, I’m just going to put my head down and I am ready to grind and become a better player,” Okonkwo said, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “It’s the offseason now, and I’m just ready to become the best player I can possibly become. I am going to work on everything I struggled with this year — that’s my mindset now, turn the page and all I can do is get better for the team and that’s what I am going to try and do this offseason.”
If there’s one area where Okonkwo can improve and help his chances of becoming more of an every-down player, it’s with his blocking.
Granted, he wasn’t terrible in that area, but there’s certainly room for him to grow after posting PFF grades of 67.6 and 55.3 in pass-blocking and run-blocking, respectively.
“I think I can get better at everything, really,” Chig said. “I feel like I am just scratching the surface. I am just trying to polish myself and become the best player that I can, and I know for that to happen, I have to work on everything.”
Okonkwo detailed how he received some tough love from head coach Mike Vrabel during the year, which Vrabel said is a testament to how much he believes in the Maryland product.
“He’ll tell me, he’s only going to coach me as hard as he cares,” Okonkwo said of Vrabel. “I know when he is pushing me and he is looking at every single rep I am doing, I just embrace it. He doesn’t want me to be a terrible player. He wants me to become the greatest player that I can become. So, for me, I always keep that in the back of my mind and don’t let anything he says get under my skin. I know he wants me to be great, and I know he is not doing this to make me feel bad. He just wants me to be a great player.”
Looking ahead to 2023, Okonkwo should be one of the focal points of the passing attack. Hopefully Tim Kelly can do a better job of getting him the ball than Todd Downing did.
