Okonkwo Quickly Makes an Impression

The rookie tight end with unusual speed also has shown he can adjust to the mental demands of the NFL in short order.

NASHVILLE – In the span of just a few red-zone plays at the Tennessee Titans' minicamp earlier this week, Chig Okonkwo offered a tantalizing glimpse of what might lie ahead this season.

The rookie tight end caught one sideline touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill, followed that up by snaring a touchdown pass from Logan Woodside, and completed the hat trick by hauling in another Tannehill touchdown toss near the back of the end zone.

The trio of TDs was a nice offseason exclamation point of sorts for the fourth-round pick out of Maryland, whose stock has risen consistently ever since he took the field for rookie minicamp.

Whether the surge will continue when training camp gets underway in July remains to be seen. But it would be hard to find another member of the Titans whose play has generated as much buzz during the offseason passing drills.

“Chig’s done a great job for us,” Tannehill said. “He’s made some big strides this spring. I’m proud of the way he’s come in, learned what to do, and we’ll continue to push him on that. But just physically, to see his size, his strength, his speed, how he’s able to play through contact, he definitely gives us another weapon.”

Okonkwo has the intriguing earmarks of a late bloomer. The numbers he posted last year at Maryland (52 catches, 447 yards and five touchdowns) easily exceeded what he’d combined to produce in his first two seasons (25 catches, 270 yards, three touchdowns). The Powder Springs, Ga., native sat out the 2020 season after getting diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

What most separates Okonkwo from other tight ends on the field is his speed, but his mind – specifically his ability to learn the system – has drawn praise this offseason as well.

“We’ve asked him to do a lot,” offensive coordinator Todd Downing said. “We’ve thrown a lot at him. I think he’s handled it well. I think he’s hungry and eager to please. There are obviously some new roles and some assignments that we’ve given him. Those are always going to come with a little bit of a learning curve. But I think he’s doing a nice job with it.”

Said Okonkwo: “When it comes to the non-physical part of the game, you’ve got to learn, you’ve got to think, you’ve got to see fronts, you’ve got to be able to know the play. Because there are different (play) conversions on certain plays and certain coverages. So definitely in that aspect, I think I’ve grown since I’ve been here.”

The 22-year-old Okonkwo will get to expand his educational horizons that much more next week, when he and veteran teammate Austin Hooper are scheduled to attend George Kittle’s Tight End University at Vanderbilt. In addition to Kittle, some of the NFL’s top tight ends – like Kansas City’s Travis Kelce, Las Vegas’ Darren Waller and Miami’s Mike Gesicki – will be among a group of about 75 in attendance.

“That’s going to be a great experience for me, to see literally the best tight ends in the league and getting to pick their brain for three days and just learn what they do, what they’re looking at in the passing game and the run game,” Okonkwo said. “I definitely feel like that’s going to be a little quick getaway for me to learn a lot of football.”

The next big challenge will occur for Okonkwo in training camp, when players start strapping on the pads for the first time since the end of last season.

At 6-foot-3 and 238 pounds, Okonkwo is a lightweight among NFL tight ends. He has relatively short arms (measured at 32 3/4 inches at the NFL Scouting Combine) as well. But one way or another, Okonkwo is going to have to find a way to hold his own as a blocker. That’s especially important for a Titans team that has run its offense through running back Derrick Henry for years.

“The first thing we always teach our tight ends when we come here is they’ve got to come here and block,” tight ends coach Luke Steckel said. “So, they’ve got to contribute in the run game as a blocker and once they do that, then they’re going to earn opportunities in the pass game.

“We play football with pads on, so the game is going to sound a little different (in training camp). It’s going to look a little different. That’s something he’s going to certainly have to adjust to, like all of our players who haven’t been wearing pads in the offseason.”

If we’re still talking about Okonkwo’s highlight-reel plays a few weeks into training camp – after he’s been knocked around a few times – that’s when we’ll really know the Titans might be on to something.

“He’s progressed significantly since the day he got here,” Steckel said. “I think he’ll be the first to tell you there’s still a lot to learn, there’s a lot to improve on.

“But he’s shown some glimpses, some flashes of some of the things he can do, and that certainly gets us excited.”