Washington\u2019s newly signed tight end, Chig Okonkwo, who spent 4 seasons with the Titans after they selected him in the 4th round of the 2022 draft, met with the DMV media on Thursday at Commanders headquarters after signing his contract.<\/p>\n
Okonkwo started the media session by answering a question about playing with Jayden Daniels; he said he was \u201csuper excited\u201d to play with guy like Washington\u2019s young star QB \u201cwith his running ability and ability to open up the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chig went on to say that his own role in Washington will essentially to act as a play-maker who catches passes, breaks tackles and adds yards after the catch, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s why I was brought here.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sounds like he\u2019s already spent time with David Blough; Chig said he\u2019d shown him clips of the offense in Detroit and talked about how Okonkwo will fit into it. He said he\u2019s excited to use his speed and quickness, and \u201cactually run real routes, and\u2026help the quarterback by being in the right place at the right time and have good hands for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about me is the YAC,\u201d Chig said. \u201cY\u2019all know about the YAC. I can get the ball anywhere on the field and make something happen.\u201d Sounds like a big change from Zach Ertz, who tended to find a way to end the play once the catch was secured.<\/p>\n
Asked which part of his game is underrated, Okonkwo stressed that he can run any route on the route tree if given the opportunity. He replied to a question about his blocking by apparently scoffing at PFF grading, using the word \u201cnarrative\u201d and then saying that he\u2019s \u201ctough\u201d and he\u2019ll \u201cput [his] face on anybody\u201d.<\/p>\n
He was asked about the fact that he and his old college teammate, safety Nick Cross, were signed by Washington on the same day. Chig said that \u201ceveryone keeps asking us about that\u201d, and added that the two had not spoken about it in advance. He reminded the assembled reporters that the two of them had been playing in the same division for the past 4 seasons, but said that it will be \u201cvery cool\u201d to be teammates again.<\/p>\n
He was also asked about becoming teammates for the 2nd time in the NFL with WR Treylon Burks. Chig said that he is \u201csuper close\u201d with Burks, describing Trey as one of his best friends, saying that he had called him right away and that they were both \u201csuper hyped\u201d. Chig promises that Trey Burks \u201ccan play football\u201d, that he is a \u201cdawg\u201d. Chig said that Butks has been sidetracked by injuries in the past, but that he is a \u201cbeast\u201d who will demonstrate all that for Washington fans this season.<\/p>\n
Asked if Okonkwo has family in the area, he clarified that he\u2019s \u201cfrom here\u201d because he went to school in the area, but that he grew up in Georgia, so his family is not in the DMV area. He also said he hadn\u2019t yet had a chance to touch base with his \u201cfolks\u201d at the University of Maryland, where he played his college ball, but smiled and said he was sure that would happen soon.<\/p>\n
Asked what he wants his teammates to know about him, Chig lit up and said, \u201cHey man, we\u2019re gonna be having a good time. I\u2019m gonna be smiling every day that I\u2019m here. You won\u2019t see me a day that I\u2019m not smiling,\u201d adding that he\u2019s heard that the locker room here is just like that so he is, again, \u201csuper excited\u201d to be around like-minded people. Sounds like he will get along just fine with Jay Daniels.<\/p>\n
Okonkwo said he\u2019s looking for stability and expects to find it in Washington, which he\u2019s heard has a culture that\u2019s always positive and consistent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Washington\u2019s newly signed tight end, Chig Okonkwo, who spent 4 seasons with the Titans after they selected him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[107294,427,7,6,23612,855,111,10421,6220,2480],"class_list":["post-809724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-commanders","tag-2026-washington-commanders-free-agency","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pressers","tag-washington","tag-washington-commanders","tag-washington-commanders-news","tag-washington-commanders-free-agency","tag-washingtoncommanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116221188652158063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}