Watch any Cam Ward game from 2024, and you will see the former Miami Hurricanes quarterback making plays all over the field. However, two players on that specific team made big plays every week.
The Tennessee Titans managed to sign one of them after the draft in everyone's favorite UDFA, Xavier Restrepo. However, they missed out on tight end Elijah Arroyo, who was drafted in the second round. The Titans drafted tight end Gunnar Helm in the fourth round.
Restrepo and Arroyo were the only Hurricanes with double-digit receptions who averaged 16-plus yards per catch. It makes sense that those two were highlighted in the offense, because Ward does most of his damage over the middle of the field.
Ward was never afraid to throw the deep ball, and he will certainly target Calvin Ridley as frequently as possible. However, the Titans are going to do everything they can to make him comfortable as a rookie, which means there will be a healthy dose of targets over the middle.
Tyler Lockett and Restrepo will see some of those passes, but no one can fill the Arroyo role better than primary pass-catching tight end Chig Okonkwo.
Cam Ward could help fully unlock Titans TE Chig Okonkwo in 2025
Despite the difference in reputation, since he was drafted, Okonkwo has nearly as many receiving yards as tight ends like Kyle Pitts and Jonnu Smith, and he has more yards than bigger names like Mike Gesicki, Isaiah Likely, and Zach Ertz.
Okonkwo has been consistent despite playing for an offense that has struggled around him for years. Ward's natural affinity for attacking the middle of the field could be the perfect recipe for Okonkwo to finally explode this year statistically.
Taking it a step further, Okonkwo is as likely as anyone on this roster to be the second-most productive pass catcher for the 2025 Titans. While the team is much deeper at receiver this year, they don't have a proven WR2, and you can picture a scenario where guys like Lockett, Restrepo, Van Jefferson, Elic Ayomanor, and Chimere Dike all have somewhere between 300-450 receiving yards. That is a number that Okonkwo has hit every year since entering the NFL.
In the three years before Ward transferred to Miami, Arroyo had 11 receptions for 163 yards. In one season with Ward, he quadrupled both of those numbers. Imagine what Ward can do for someone like Okonkwo, who has already been productive without him.
