There wasn’t much to like about the Titans offense in 2022 as the team finished 28th in points scored en route to missing the playoffs with a 7-10 record, but rookie tight end Chig Okonkwo provided a little brightness.
Okonkwo was a fourth-round pick out of Maryland and he wound up leading all rookie tight ends and finishing second on the Titans with 450 receiving yards during the regular season. Okonkwo produced those yards on 32 catches and he also posted three touchdowns over the course of his first year in the NFL.
His performances earned some good reviews, but head coach Mike Vrabel often tempered them with notes about areas where Okonkwo needs to improve. He’s taken those notes to heart and says that his plan for the offseason is to “work on everything I struggled with this year.”
“He’ll tell me, he’s only going to coach me as hard as he cares,” Okonkwo said, via the team’s website. “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. I think I can get better at everything, really. 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.”
The Titans will likely be addressing the wide receiver position this offseason after cutting Robert Woods, but there should be ample opportunity for Okonkwo to show he’s capable of filling a bigger role in what the team hopes will be a more effective offensive attack.
