Chig Okonkwo

TE·

Washington Commanders·#85·6'3"·238 lb·4th year·Maryland

Tier 1Round 4, pick 143 in 2022

Updated November 4, 2026

77.7

Model Score

Down from 82.2 last year

Trade value ·a late 2nd

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Chig Okonkwo has 17 catches, 182 receiving yards and 0 touchdowns in 5 games for the Washington Commanders this season through Week 8, 7 PPR points a game (updated November 4, 2026).

Model Score by season

Down 4.5 from last season.

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

An athletic receiving tight end held back by his quarterback.

The case for

Rookie 2022 produced 32 catches for 450 yards, one of the best 4th-round TE debuts of the past decade. Wks 16-17 2025 produced 16.4 and 14.5 PPR.
Sub-4.5 forty plus 6'3"/238 frame is a defined modern receiving-TE physical profile. Career receiving yards total 1,800+ across four seasons from a Day 3 pick.

The worry

Two straight tier 8 finishes before the 2025 breakout shows the floor when the QB room is unstable. Three sub-7 PPR weeks in his 2025 sample (4, 6.9, 7) confirm the role is still QB-dependent.
Cam Ward is a rookie QB with an open development curve; the 2026 trajectory could easily regress if Ward's Year 2 is a step backward.

What to watch: Whether Okonkwo's 2026 target share clears 5 per game with Cam Ward's continued development, the threshold for sustained tier 5-or-better production.

Full take and bio

Two straight seasons of tier 8 (#30, #41) finishes followed by a tier 6 #23 jump in 2025 is the kind of arc that suggests the QB and offensive coordinator are the issue, not the player. Wks 16-17 2025 produced 16.4 and 14.5 PPR. The 2026 trajectory depends on whether Cam Ward's development continues, because Okonkwo's per-target value is real and his physical profile remains intact.

Okonkwo came out of Maryland as Tennessee's 4th-round pick (143rd overall) in 2022 after a college career that ended with 52 catches for 447 yards. His rookie 2022 produced one of the best 4th-round TE debuts in years (32 catches, 450 yards), but his 2023 and 2024 seasons stalled at tier 8 (#30, #41) as the Titans' offense cycled through Will Levis, Cam Ward, and multiple coordinators. The 2025 tier 6 #23 finish came with Cam Ward emerging as the long-term QB and Okonkwo's role expanding as the receiving TE.