The Tennessee Titans‘ passing offense simply didn’t have enough production to make Chigoziem Okonkwo the potential breakout fantasy football TE many managers hoped for entering the 2023 NFL season. Yet, the arrival of a new coaching staff, a new offensive scheme, and the potential growth of a promising second-year quarterback could make Okonkwo a nice post-hype candidate to enjoy fantasy success in his third NFL season.
What can fantasy managers expect from Okonkwo in 2024?
Chigoziem Okonkwo’s 2024 Fantasy Forecast
From a standpoint of pure improvement from his rookie to sophomore season, Okonkwo looked like an improved player in 2023.
Okonkwo saw his targets, receptions, and receiving yards all jump by a nice margin from Year 1 to 2. Unfortunately, his increased stat line did not come anywhere close to qualifying as a breakout fantasy producer last season.
Okonkwo’s 54 receptions for 528 yards and one score saw him finish the year as the TE21 overall in full-PPR formats — which made him barely worthy of a roster spot last year.
This Tennessee passing attack simply didn’t have enough juice to produce multiple fantasy performers in 2023. DeAndre Hopkins saw the most targets by a wide margin, and the subpar quarterback play in a run-first offense proved to be a severely limiting factor to Okonkwo’s fantasy production.
Fortunately, the arrival of a new head coach in Brian Callahan and the potential growth of second-year quarterback Will Levis leaves some room for optimism for Okonkwo entering the 2024 NFL season.
Okonkwo was still a productive YAC threat last year with a healthy average of five yards after the catch per reception in 2023 — which was the same exact mark we saw from Travis Kelce.
However, the addition of Calvin Ridley and the potentially expanded role of Josh Whyle in this offense could make the fantasy outlook very cloudy for the third-year tight end.
The Titans weren’t exactly frequent visitors to opposing red zones last year either, which could also cap Okonkwo’s touchdown upside as a red-zone threat if this offense doesn’t take a big step in the right direction in 2024.
Ultimately, Okonkwo is a talented player stuck in a bad situation entering this season. Unless Levis is far better than we all think, then Okonkwo still feels like nothing more than a desperate streaming option at the TE position in 2024.
Okonkwo’s ADP at No. 188 overall in the 16th round as the TE24 off the board makes him a bit of an afterthought for fantasy managers at the TE position entering the 2024 NFL season. He’s currently being drafted after Ben Sinnott, Tyler Conklin, and Hunter Henry in fantasy drafts.
Okonkwo has the physical tools to be a menace after the catch, which can be an incredibly valuable asset as a moveable pass-catching weapon in the right offensive scheme.
Is this new offensive scheme one that lends itself to top-tier tight end production? Maybe, but that certainly isn’t what we saw from Callahan’s scheme during his days as the offensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The modest expectations from this passing offense are quite reasonable given the unknown level of quarterback play we are going to get from Levis in 2024, but Okonkwo still has the athletic profile paired with the flashes of playmaking ability we’ve seen to make him worth a dart late in fantasy drafts.