Action Network’s fantasy football staff wholeheartedly agrees that the Jaguars’ Evan Engram is the top tight end to grab off the waiver wire for Week 15. But in the event that you don’t have a high enough waiver priority or free agent budget, there is another intriguing option in the Titans’ Chigoziem Okonkwo.
The rookie enjoyed his best game of the season against Jacksonville with a 6/45/1 line. He’s now totaled 16 targets over his last three games.
Action Network’s Sean Koerner is particularly bullish on Okonkwo as a high-ceiling play. Read on for more analysis below from Koerner and the rest of our experts.
Sean Koerner: Okonkwo has the talent to become an every-week TE1 option, but he has yet to top a 60% routes run rate this season. Until he does, he’s going to be more of a TE2 with massive upside, thanks to his 25% target rate per route run and 15.2 yards per catch.
The Titans, currently on a three-game losing streak, are decimated at receiver right now. These are reasons why we could see Okonkwo top the 60-70% routes run rate any week now — once that happens, he could be a top-10 option.
The tight end position is such a crap shoot outside of the top five or so, which means I'd be much more willing to roll the dice on Okonkowo’s massive ceiling despite fairly limited usage. He’s established a solid enough floor where I wouldn’t even consider it a gamble to start him over a Hunter Henry/Tyler Conklin/Dawson Knox type.
The only unknown with Okonkwo right now is how high his ceiling is. That screams, “Invest, invest, invest!"
Samantha Previte: Okonkwo caught all six of his targets for 45 yards and a touchdown and Hooper caught all five of his targets for 65 yards.
Hooper edged out Okonkwo in snaps by a count of 36 to 33, though I am more intrigued by Okonkwo rest-of-season. This will be the rookie's second straight top-10 finish in half-PPR scoring and second game in a row with five or more targets.
The Titans face the Chargers in Week 15, whose defense has allowed the 11th-most fantasy points to tight ends. Okonkwo and Hooper both find themselves in the deep-league streaming conversation.
Mike Triplett: Okonkwo is probably a better target in deeper and daily leagues. That being said, there is a lot to like about the rookie fourth-round pick as he's finally getting a bigger opportunity after his usage had been a big talking point for weeks among reporters and coaches.
Okonkwo has set career highs in snaps in each of the past two weeks, and he just set a career high with six catches while reeling in a touchdown and a two-point conversion. He leads all NFL tight ends with three catches of 40-plus yards despite limited usage.
Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky suggested Okonkwo could get extra snaps at fullback as the team tries to get him more involved.
