Chig Okonkwo's "real routes" comment with the Commanders exposes the Titans' past offensive struggles and a disappointing regime.
The Tennessee Titans made it clear what their plans for the tight end position were in 2026 early on in free agency.
The Titans signed former New York Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger in free agency, all but guaranteeing that Chig Okonkwo wouldn't be on the team in 2026. Bellinger is a blocking tight end who will complement the game of Gunnar Helm.
Even though Okonkwo had the best year of his Titans' career in 2025, the majority of his time in the Music City was underwhelming. Okonkwo led the Titans with 560 receiving yards and two touchdowns last season.
However, the inconsistency during his time with the franchise stood out, which made it easier for the Titans to release him after his rookie deal expired.
The team didn't have to pay him, and brought in Bellinger as his replacement, who already understands the system that offensive coordinator Brian Daboll will run in Tennessee.
After being released by the Titans, Okonkwo signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Washington Commanders, via NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
It wasn't very long into his introductory press conference with the Commanders that Okonkwo said something that made the previous Titans regime look pretty bad.
The former Titans tight end said that he was excited to run "real routes" in the Commanders' offense and to work alongside offensive coordinator David Blough.
"The way I see myself fitting in exactly the roles that he showed me," Okonkwo said. "Like everything, just watching guys with so much space and just able to just use my skill set, you know, to my advantage, like fully to my advantage, and just use my speed, my quickness, like, actually, you know, actually run real routes on the field and be able to help the quarterback. You know, be in the right position, right place at the right time."
It's not a great look when one of your former players talks about actually running routes with another team. Whether Titans fans enjoyed Okonkwo's tenure with the team, this says a lot about Brian Callahan's offense being a disaster.
You can look at the numbers to show the real story. While the Titans did have a rookie quarterback under center who was still learning the game, the offense deserves some of the blame.
The Titans had the fourth-fewest passing yards (190.6), third-fewest rushing yards (93.5) and scored the third-fewest points (16.7) per game in the NFL under Callahan last season.
It's bad enough that your leading receiver was a tight end who had 560 receiving yards, but hearing this from Okonkwo tells you everything you need to know about how bad things were with Callahan running the show.
Callahan went 4-19 as the Titans' head coach from 2024 to the middle of 2025. After losing to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6, he was fired.
It can't get much worse than that.
Now, the Titans are ushering in a new era with Robert Saleh as head coach and Mike Borgonzi as General Manager.
The team just announced their new uniforms and logo design. Plus, the new stadium is eyeing a completion in February of 2027.
There's no guarantee the team will instantly go from 3-14 to a winner, but it can't be worse than it was during the Callahan era.