The Tennessee Titans may have found themselves a future star at the TE position with Chigoziem Okonkwo, but what is the fantasy football ceiling for a pass catcher in the Titans offense behind WR DeAndre Hopkins in the target pecking order? Let’s take a closer look.
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Chigoziem Okonkwo’s Fantasy Outlook for the 2023 NFL Season
Tennessee’s offense struggled in 2022. The injury to starting QB Ryan Tannehill and the absence of a true go-to WR made the Titans’ passing attack one of the least exciting groups in all of fantasy football.
However, just because the unit struggled as a whole doesn’t mean we didn’t catch glimpses of future potential playmakers in this offense.
Namely, Okonkwo, who flashed real playmaking ability after the catch in his rookie. This was evident by his average of 7.9 yards after the catch per reception, which was the highest mark by a TE in 2022.
In addition, he averaged 9.8 yards per target in 2022, the second-best rate of 34 qualified TEs.
Okonkwo’s playmaking ability from the TE position is in rare company, which has many hopeful about a potential breakout season from the second-year player from Maryland.
Titans TE Chigoziem Okonkwo is poised to become a potent weapon in the passing game for QB Ryan Tannehill. #Titans pic.twitter.com/K40JG2DN0X
— JOSE ALVARES (@Alvaresjose11) August 23, 2023
The problem really resides with how much volume he is likely to see in this Titans passing game.
If Treylon Burks is ready to go for Week 1 after sustaining a sprained LCL in training camp, then it is possible that Okonkwo will finish third in targets behind the top two Titans WRs in 2023.
Over the past three seasons, the third-most-targeted player in the Titans’ passing game has seen targets of 54, 48, and 65.
The highest of those totals came from TE Jonnu Smith in 2020.
Despite him being a pretty respectable playmaking TE in his own right, Smith still finished outside of the top 15 at the TE position … even with Tannehill finishing as the QB8 that season in his career year.
Even if Okonkwo is highly efficient with his looks, I am concerned there simply won’t be enough targets in this offense for him to break out this season.
Is Okonkwo a Good Fantasy Pick?
Currently, Okonkwo is going in the 10th round as the TE13 off the board.
While I acknowledge the obvious upside to Okonkwo’s playmaking ability at the TE position, it is really difficult to project him giving you a reliable fantasy floor in a run-heavy offense that still runs through Derrick Henry.
MORE: 2023 TE Fantasy Football Rankings
Sure, the draft-day price tag isn’t too expensive — which means the risk becomes a bit more acceptable when chasing his upside at that point in the draft — but I would still rather go in other directions at TE position with similar upside in better, more pass-oriented offenses.
- PFN Consensus: 122nd overall
- ADP: 127 overall