Washington Commanders Top Breakout Candidate in 2026
Newsweek · C · trust 54/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. The Washington Commanders have plenty of storylines heading into training camp — Terry McLaurin looking to bounce back, rookie Antonio Williams getting his first look, Jacory Croskey-Marritt and Rachaad White potentially forming one of the league's top backfield duos.
But the guy who might matter most to Jayden Daniels' return to form is a new face: tight end Chig Okonkwo.
Daniels leaned hard on the tight end position during his best stretches as a rookie, with Zach Ertz serving as a reliable security blanket underneath. Ertz is gone now, though, and in his place the Commanders went out and signed Okonkwo to a three-year deal worth up to $30 million.
Okonkwo spent the last four seasons in Tennessee and is coming off a big year, posting a career-high 560 yards and two touchdowns on 56 catches. He also racked up 342 yards after the catch, the ninth most among NFL tight ends.
Yet he's still one of the more underrated tight ends in the league, in part because he's spent his entire career in Tennessee, a team that just had back-to-back 3-14 seasons and has cycled through multiple quarterbacks in recent years.
But now he's got Jayden Daniels. With a wide receiver group still working itself out, and very little competition in the tight end room, Okonkwo might end up being Daniels' No. 2 option behind McLaurin, setting up a potential Pro Bowl season for him.
The new scheme should play to his strengths, too. New offensive coordinator David Blough is expected to lean on more play-action and under-center concepts designed to get athletic players moving in space, a noticeable change from what Kliff Kingsbury had been running, and one that should work well with an explosive weapon like Okonkwo.
Okonkwo himself sounded thrilled about the move to Washington, telling reporters this offseason that he feels like it's "the place where I can finally just unleash," pointing to the variety of routes and alignments he's already gotten to run in the new offense.
With Daniels looking to rebound from an injury-shortened 2025 season, and a need for more reliable pass catchers around him, all of the pieces are in place for Okonkwo to post the best numbers of his career in 2026.
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