Chigoziem Okonkwo Fantasy Overview

2024 Summary

Production & Fantasy Finishes

Okonkwo caught 52 balls for 479 yards and two scores across a little more than 16 games last year. (He played just three snaps in Week 18.) He ranked 16th among TEs in catches, 22nd in yards, and tied for 24th in TDs.

Okonkwo finished 21st among TEs in total PPR points and 29th in PPR points per game (omitting Week 18). He had four top-12 scoring weeks but finished outside the top-20 TEs 10 times.

Usage & Role

Okonkwo drew 70 targets last year, which ranked second among Titans and tied for 18th among TEs. His 13.2% target share ranked 24th at the position. (That climbs to 13.9% if we omit Week 18.) Okonkwo also ranked 24th in expected PPR points per game through Week 17.

He saw his best usage late in the season, though. Over his final five full games, Okonkwo averaged 7.6 targets on a 22.1% share. Only five TEs totaled more targets over that stretch; only five had a higher target share.

Okonkwo ranked eighth at the position in expected PPR points per game and 14th in actual PPR points per game across those five weeks.

Efficiency Metrics

Okonkwo caught 74.3% of his targets last year, in large part because of his shallow 5.9-yard average target depth. He averaged just 9.2 yards per catch.

Among 36 TEs with 40+ targets last season, Okonkwo ranked:

• 27th in yards per target
• 29th in yards per route
• 26th in Pro Football Focus receiving grade

Okonkwo was much more efficient over that five-game stretch to close the season. He ranked 13th in yards per route and 11th in PFF grade among 29 qualifying TEs.

Offensive Context

Okonkwo played in a Titans passing game that ranked:

• 22nd in completion rate
• 26th in yards
• 22nd in yards per attempt
• 16th in TDs

QB Will Levis did not take a step forward in his second NFL season, and QB Mason Rudolph wasn’t any better.

Historical Production & Trends

Okonkwo has steadily improved his per-game PPR production over three NFL seasons, from 5.6 to 6.7 to 7.1.

But his 1.25 yards per route last year was actually a career low. So was his 4.9 yards after the catch per reception, despite a career-low 5.7-yard average target depth.

Okonkwo earned a strong 84.6 PFF receiving grade as a rookie in 2022 but sunk to 63.2 in 2023. That rebounded only slightly to 65.4 last year.

Injury History

Okonkwo has played all 17 games in each of his three NFL seasons. He exited after just three snaps in last year’s finale, though, with an abdomen injury. That shouldn’t impact his 2025 campaign.

2025 Expectations

Projected Role & Competition

Okonkwo will head to training camp as the favorite for lead TE duties again in 2025. But he’ll need to hold off rookie Gunnar Helm.

The fourth-rounder played behind TE Ja’Tavion Sanders as a sophomore and junior at Texas but broke out in his 2024 senior campaign. He led the Longhorns with 60 catches and ranked second to only WR Matthew Golden with 786 yards and seven TDs. Helm has reliable hands and is a weapon after the catch.

Tennessee’s WR room remains weak behind No. 1 Calvin Ridley, though, so there’s potential for Okonkwo to again finish second on this team in targets this season.

Supporting Cast

The Titans hope they’ve found a solution at QB in first overall pick Cam Ward. Although his mechanics and accuracy are inconsistent, Ward has plus arm talent and athleticism. He should be an immediate upgrade over last year’s duo of Will Levis and Mason Rudolph.

Coaching & Offensive Scheme

Brian Callahan returns for his second season as Titans HC. The year one results were ugly, with Tennessee ranking 26th or worse in points, total yards, and passing yards. But Callahan never had much of a chance with a QB room of Levis and Rudolph.

His results as Bengals OC from 2019 through 2023 were better. Cincinnati ranked top-16 in points in Callahan’s final three seasons, including seventh-place finishes in 2021 and 2022.

Last year’s Titans ranked 19th with a 56.4% pass rate. That was a shift from Callahan, whose teams registered a pass rate north of 60% in four of five seasons in Cincinnati.

If Ward proves ready, look for the Titans to throw at least a little more in 2025. We currently project them for a 58.7% pass rate.

It’s also worth noting that Callahan talked up Okonkwo’s development late last season.

“He’s really started to play well,” Callahan said in December. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. He’s playing fast. Everything about what he’s doing in the pass game and the run game as a TE has been really encouraging. … He’s got explosive ability, as we’ve seen a couple different times with the ball in his hands. So, trying to find ways to get the ball in his hands. … He’s really developed into a really pretty good NFL TE, both in the run and the pass game.”

Production & Efficiency Trends

Okonkwo will enter his fourth NFL season at 26 years old.

Our aging-curve research has found that TEs tend to peak at age-25, although they still produce at 96-98% of that peak at 26.