Who Should I Start? Chig Okonkwo or Isaiah Likely

Wednesday, July 9, 3:01 PM

Tennessee Titans Chig Okonkwo has flashed on occasion during his three-year NFL career, but tight ends often take time to develop, and Tennessee's offense has been well below league-average since the start of the 2022 campaign. The former fourth-round pick out of Maryland has tallied 138 receptions (193 targets) for 1,457 yards and six touchdowns in 51 career games. Heading into Year 4, Titans beat writer Jim Wyatt believes he is "poised" for his best season as a pro. He now has valuable experience, and he'll enter the year with momentum after finishing the 2024 season on a roll." Wyatt wrote. "Okonkwo finished the year third on the team with 52 catches for 479 yards and two scores. The Titans are counting on big things from Okonkwo after a solid offseason, when I charted him with a team-high 13 catches during the five open practices." While it's tough to get too excited about a mid-level tight end catching passes from a rookie quarterback, there is a low bar for Cam Ward to have the best season of any Tennessee signal callers since Okonkwo arrived in Nashville. At his TE26 cost in preseason fantasy drafts, he's worth a dart throw given the lack of target competition behind Calvin Ridley.

Tuesday, July 15, 9:38 PM

The Baltimore Ravens "figure to make a push to extend" tight end Isaiah Likely, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Zrebiec also writes that the team believes Likely to have "star potential." A fourth-round draft pick back in 2022, Likely is entering the final year of his rookie deal. He's played a complementary role to star Ravens tight end Mark Andrews to this point in his career, but that sounds as if it could be changing. Likely set career-highs in catches (42), receiving yards (477), and touchdowns (6) in 2024. While he probably still needs Andrews to miss time to be a must-start fantasy tight end this season, the workload split between the two will be one to monitor throughout training camp and the preseason.