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.
