- 2 days ago
Is tight end Chig Okonkwo ready to take over as Jayden Daniels’ primary weapon, or is his talent being completely wasted?
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00:00We wanted to talk about Chigakonkwo.
00:02Last couple games, 11 catches.
00:04Jaden Daniels has targeted him a lot.
00:06Now with no Terry McLaurin, you look at the weapons they have,
00:10and they've got guys like Traylon Burks filling in,
00:12Admirally Stephon Diggs.
00:14But Chig, all of a sudden, I know in the fantasy world,
00:18his value has skyrocketed.
00:19But in the real world, on the football field,
00:22is this a guy who can become a go-to for Jaden Daniels
00:25and make a difference?
00:26Right now, no touchdowns.
00:28So he's got the catches.
00:30But in the last two weeks, again, 11 catches, 129 yards for Chigakonkwo.
00:34I mean, why couldn't he be?
00:35We saw how heavily Jaden leaned into the tight end position as a rookie,
00:41specifically with Zach Ertz.
00:43Why wouldn't you take advantage of a guy who's a mismatch
00:46for a lot of linebackers and safeties in Chig
00:50and get him more incorporated into the offense,
00:52especially when you lose your top receiving weapon in Terry McLaurin?
00:56Of course.
00:56Which makes all the sense of the world.
00:57I mean, you know where Cakes and I stand on Chig.
01:00Yeah.
01:00From just seeing the clips and what the ability this guy has,
01:04he was way underutilized in the first few weeks.
01:08Now they're starting to discover again, hey, wait a second,
01:11we got this super – I think he's got superstar talent.
01:15I think he does too.
01:17He's showing you what he can do when he's more heavily featured in the offense.
01:21Yeah.
01:21As far as being like a pass-catching tight end.
01:24I mean, he's virtually like a wide receiver playing tight end.
01:27He may appear different.
01:30This is what I said before the season, and I kind of stand by it.
01:33You think he's the same as the other guy?
01:34Oh, yeah.
01:35Zach Ertz.
01:36Well, because Zach Ertz was a guy who averaged 10 yards a catch.
01:39Guess what Chigakonkwo averages?
01:4110 yards a catch.
01:42If you project his numbers over the year, I'm going to give him a full season,
01:45he would be on pace for 60 catches, 600 yards, which is good,
01:50but it's not special.
01:52Now maybe he's been underutilized based on his potential
01:57and based on his physical talents.
01:591-800-636-1067.
02:02So maybe they should lean into Chig more and throw the ball downfield more.
02:06We've seen a lot of dink and dunk to Chig.
02:09And I don't have a problem with that.
02:11You're getting yards and moving the sticks,
02:12but it's been generally short passes.
02:15I know he had one or two long gains this past week,
02:18but generally it's been a rollout, little quick pass to Chig.
02:21It's not that different than what Zach Ertz was giving you.
02:24Well, Chig stretches the field, and I know in the Giants game,
02:28he averaged 15 yards per catch.
02:30I think he can get closer to that kind of production.
02:34Not to do it on a season.
02:35That's an incredible number for a tight end.
02:37But I think he just could, yeah, you can utilize him more down the field.
02:40He's also a broken tackles guy,
02:42whereas Zach Ertz was not breaking any tackles.
02:44He was not getting through traffic.
02:46He's just faster, more athletic.
02:47I mean, JP wants to basically, I don't know, he devalues Chig for some reason.
02:53I don't quite understand.
02:54Because he's just looking at the numbers.
02:55Well, then you're devaluing Ertz.
02:57Look, I've talked about Zach Ertz a million times.
03:01For what he signed for, and at the tail end of his career,
03:04he was remarkably productive here with the Commanders.
03:07It's actually a compliment to Chig, to be honest with you.
03:09Cakes and I are just taking a little offense to it because we know Chig is so much more athletic.
03:12But Zach Ertz is like in the hall of very good.
03:16Yeah.
03:17Like, it's a compliment to Chig that we're comparing him to Ertz.
03:20Yeah, to get a comp to him.
03:21We just know that he's even more athletic and he could do a lot more after the catch.
03:25You've got a very, very small sample size.
03:28I think he's a bigger downfield threat.
03:30I don't think it's...
03:31And maybe that'll change, but the numbers are the numbers, right?
03:34So he's averaging 10 yards a catch in two seasons with the Commanders.
03:38Zach Ertz averaged 9.9 yards per catch when he had 66 catches for 654 yards.
03:43And he had 50 catches for 504 yards, 10.1 yards per catch.
03:48And all I said was that Chig, in my opinion, was going to put up similar numbers to what Ertz
03:53was going to give.
03:54And right now, that's what's bearing out.
03:56Now, what I would say is...
03:57It's after 15 catches.
03:59I do know he's faster.
04:00Yeah.
04:01All right, and he has potential.
04:02And maybe there are situations, and Dan Quinn intimated this,
04:07that there are situations where Jaden is a little conservative with the ball.
04:12And I think maybe you tweeted something yesterday.
04:14I thought I saw you tweet something about Kurt Warner.
04:15Kurt Warner did a nice breakdown.
04:17That Jaden has been good.
04:19Like, I'm not saying Jaden has been bad.
04:22He's been good.
04:23However, Troy Aikman brought it up many times in the broadcast.
04:26And if you saw some of the All-22ers, saw some of the, you know,
04:30particularly the last couple plays, you could see...
04:32I know in one play, he threw it to Rashad White, and Chig was open downfield.
04:37He chose not to make, you know, the more difficult throw.
04:40I'm not saying he can't make that throw, but for whatever reason,
04:43Jaden hasn't thrown the ball downfield.
04:45So maybe Chig is open and has had more opportunities to make plays
04:48that Ertz wasn't capable of.
04:50But right now, that's what he's giving you.
04:52What I love about Kurt's breakdown is, and you know Kurt's not trying to be a dick.
04:55Kurt's just like a good person.
04:57You just know that.
04:58And what I love is Kurt said,
05:00I've seen Jaden make these throws a million times,
05:03and he knows he can do it.
05:04He just wants him to just go for it more.
05:07And I think he also acknowledged part of the reason is
05:09he doesn't have a lot of help around him.
05:11And when the offensive line is collapsing around him,
05:13you lose a little confidence.
05:15And I think the other thing that's factoring into a little of this
05:18is people sleep on when you have a new coordinator in a new system.
05:22It's like his fifth game, you know, getting used to it.
05:25They're asking Jaden to do a lot of pre-snap reads, etc.
05:28Of course he can do that.
05:29And I think he's done an excellent job of changing plays and all that stuff.
05:32But it's just a lot on his plate.
05:33And then when you have the stuff surrounding you,
05:37I think that this stuff will get better as time goes along.
05:39But he also, Kurt Warner has a totally different mentality.
05:43And Kurt Warner's a Hall of Famer, right, like Troy.
05:46But Kurt Warner wasn't going to ever beat you with his legs.
05:49Kurt Warner's mentality playing quarterback was,
05:51I'm going to go for the kill shot every single play if you give it to me.
05:54If you give me that, if that safety goes there, boom,
05:56I'm going to hit you every time.
05:57That was his point in the video.
05:58I'm going to look for the post route every single time first read.
06:01Well, Jaden, remember, his skill set's a little different, too.
06:04And maybe he needs to adopt Kurt's mentality.
06:07I like it.
06:08And he says, and I threw interceptions.
06:10You're going to throw more interceptions.
06:12But what Kurt didn't mention, though,
06:14is some of the kill shots that Jaden gives you is with his legs, right?
06:19And so that's just a different,
06:20it's just a little bit of a different mindset, I think,
06:22when you're a mobile quarterback like a Lamar and like a Jaden,
06:26to always, first and foremost, look for that kill shot downfield,
06:32especially when the offensive line and the blocking up front of you
06:35is disintegrating.
06:37I think you can understand when guys might be a little pre-ordained maybe
06:41to think, I might hit this check down here
06:44because I'm not going to have a lot of time.
06:45It is a Football Friday on the Fan
06:47presented by Adios Premium Can Margaritas.
06:50Say hello to Adios DC.
06:52Want to hear from Commanders fans, 1-800-636-1067.
06:56Do you want to see Chig step up
06:58or do you have somebody else who you think needs to step up
07:00with the absence of Terry McLaurin?
07:03I think Chig is kind of the perfect guy to do it
07:05because he's, this is why Cakes really loves him
07:08because Cakes' fantasy roots really come to play.
07:12He doesn't care about blocking tight ends.
07:15Oh, I couldn't care last time, actually.
07:16He likes the hybrid tight ends
07:19who don't even really block and they're just receivers.
07:21And that's basically what Chig is.
07:22That's what fans like.
07:23We're all fans like that.
07:24I like, I say a likely, I like Travis Kelsey.
07:27I like Brock Bowers.
07:29Brock Bowers basically plays wide receiver.
07:31The tight end for the Raiders is Michael Mayer.
07:35Brock Bowers is a wide out, but he's listed as a tight end.
07:38Those are the tight ends I like.
07:39Right.
07:39And you look at Terry's,
07:41when his healthy seasons go back to like 24 and 23,
07:45he had 132 targets in 23
07:47and he had 117 targets in 2024.
07:51That's a lot of targets that are now vacated
07:53because he's on the sideline with the patella tendon injury.
07:57So Chig, he's going to absorb a lot of those targets
08:00as is Antonio Williams,
08:02and it's going to be a trickle effect down the roster.
08:05Diggs is too.
08:06Traylon Burks as well.
08:07I actually think they've, on the whole,
08:09underutilized Diggs a little bit.
08:11Probably true.
08:12All right, let's go to the phones.
08:13He's dealt with some nagging injuries too.
08:14Yeah.
08:151-800-636-1067.
08:18Diggs pissed me off one time though.
08:21Well, maybe twice.
08:22When he humped the post, he didn't need to do that.
08:25Yeah, that was bad judgment by him.
08:26That wasn't smart.
08:27Yep.
08:28That's fine.
08:28You get the emotion of the game.
08:30But when he dropped that one ball a couple weeks ago,
08:32that, remember that was right in the middle.
08:34It was just like, it was an easy ball drop.
08:37That infuriated me.
08:38You're allowed to have drops.
08:39The one when he was messing with his finger afterwards?
08:42No, it wasn't last week.
08:44No, it was a couple weeks ago, I think.
08:45It was just, it was a simple ball.
08:47It would have been a first down, whatever.
08:48It infuriated me.
08:50All right, let's go to Dave in Raleigh.
08:52Dave, what's up, man?
08:54You're on with the junks.
08:55Guys, good morning.
08:56How are you?
08:57Good morning.
08:57Hey, good.
08:58Yeah, I would love to see a chick step up more.
09:01I wanted to ask you guys, I think, something related.
09:04Did you guys notice last night how much they were running out of the,
09:06under the gun and how much play action both sides were doing?
09:10In the Bears-Pats game?
09:12Yeah.
09:13The Bears have leaned into that with Ben Johnson.
09:17You're talking about under center play?
09:19Exactly.
09:20And I know that the Skins were talking much about how they were going to do that,
09:24and that was one of the things that Cliff didn't do.
09:26So I'm wondering, did you guys think, I think that maybe the reason why they're not doing
09:32it as much this year is because Jaden is just slow to pick it up.
09:36I mean, with those two gaps in the last two games, I mean, it is possible that he is struggling
09:40with that.
09:41I'm wondering maybe with the Bible.
09:42You know what?
09:42I'll ask Adam Peters.
09:43I don't know if he'll tell us the truth, but I'll ask him, why has it turned out that
09:48we haven't run more under center?
09:49Is it something that Jaden does?
09:51My man.
09:51I'll ask him.
09:52Okay?
09:52I'll ask him in an hour.
09:53Thanks, man.
09:53I'm so happy I called.
09:54Thanks, guys.
09:55Yeah.
09:55Yeah, yeah.
09:55I don't know the answer.
09:57I mean, he'll say something.
09:58He'll say words.
09:59He'll tell him to ask.
09:59Yeah, I don't know if the answer will be the truth.
10:03Yeah, Grant Paulson put out some statistics.
10:05It'd take me a little time to find it, but they're not ranked high in under center play,
10:11and the talk was that they were going to do it more.
10:13And look, the reason the league has been trending towards that is teams have had a lot of success
10:17with the plays under center.
10:18Like, if you look statistically, the quarterbacks who run play action under center, their completion
10:23percentage, their plays downfield, it's all greater.
10:26But I think it's obvious from afar, and we've touched on the issues.
10:29That when you're playing from behind, when your running game stinks, you know.
10:36Yeah, so there could be, you know, obviously a comfort level that Jaden has.
10:40You know, when your offensive line is maybe struggling, gives you a little more time to
10:45see the field.
10:45Dude, there was one play this week where Jaden handed the ball off and almost got sacked.
10:50Do you remember that play?
10:51Yes.
10:52Yeah.
10:52He almost got sacked on a handoff.
10:54Yeah, I think I had a great job.
10:55Yeah, I agree.
10:56I agree it was a great defensive play, but maybe there's a reason that they might have
11:01wanted to go under center that they're not going under center.
11:04So it's possible about Jaden picking it up, but it just might be they've realized that
11:08they don't have the personnel to do it.
11:10Yeah.
11:11I mean, I know Cliff was asked.
11:12Same situations and all those things.
11:14I think Cliff was asked, you know, at one point and they asked, do more under center
11:17and Cliff said something to the effect of when Jaden's more comfortable with it, we'll
11:21do it more.
11:22So he kind of threw Jaden under the bus there.
11:25Well, it's just something that he hadn't done in college and the Bears had a different
11:28approach.
11:28Ben Johnson took over and Caleb was a similar guy to Jaden Daniels.
11:34Didn't run under center in high school or college.
11:36Like they've been shotgun guys their whole lives, right?
11:39And Ben Johnson was like, no, going to make him uncomfortable.
11:41Yeah.
11:42Because this is what I did in Detroit and it was successful and this is what I'm going
11:46to do here.
11:47Yeah.
11:47Yeah.
11:47And look, those guys are still in shotgun most of the time.
11:50It's a percentage.
11:52It's another reason why, honestly, to why I am reticent that I understand that it feels
12:00like it's when, not if, and it feels like almost like a Loxley situation here, right?
12:06There's going to be regime change.
12:09You're not going to have Jaden on his third coordinator in three years.
12:12And he's a smart, I personally believe, I know people are arguing with me.
12:16I personally believe he's a smart kid and can do all these things.
12:18Seems very smart.
12:19But it's just, it's just harder.
12:21Yeah.
12:21It's just harder when you have to learn a new system, you know, every year.
12:24We don't want to talk about him like, we talk about Jalen Hurts.
12:27Right.
12:27But having the constant turnover.
12:29As far as OCs and new systems to learn.
12:32It's a lot.
12:33Like, let's keep in one system for a while.
12:35Yeah.
12:35Get used to it.