Several Titans Seek Improvement from NFL Peers
NASHVILLE – Two Tennessee Titans tight ends will seek to further educate themselves at Vanderbilt University later this month. They hope to benefit a local charity in the process.
Veteran Austin Hooper and rookie Chig Okonkwo are expected to attend George Kittle’s Tight End University, which will be held at Vanderbilt from June 22-24.
This is the second straight offseason that Kittle – an All-Pro tight end with the San Francisco 49ers – has hosted a Tight End University in town. The inaugural event drew about 50 NFL players last season, and the number expected to rise to at least 75 this year.
“Basically the whole concept is just bring as many as we can get under one roof and just talk ball, be on the field, watch each other run routes, just ask questions, learn from each other, and then just hang out and get to know each other,” Kittle said on the AP Pro Football Podcast.
In addition to most of the NFL’s current top tight ends like Kittle, Kansas City’s Travis Kelce and Las Vegas’ Darren Waller, this year’s event is expected to include former names such as Tony Gonzalez and Dallas Clark.
Hooper attended the first edition last offseason prior to his final year in Cleveland, when Hooper caught 38 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns. The first two numbers were the lowest for Hooper since his rookie year of 2016. Hooper earned Pro Bowl Honors as recently as 2019 in Atlanta, when he caught 75 passes for 787 yards and six touchdowns.
“We’ll be looking for ways to highlight (Hooper’s) skillset and get him up to speed on the way we do things around here, and very fortunate to have him around here,” Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing said. “You know, I like me some tight ends.”
Okonkwo, a fourth-round pick two months ago, caught 52 passes for 447 yards and five touchdowns in his final season at Maryland. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound Okonkwo should bring much-needed speed and pass-catching ability to the tight end corps, but will need to establish himself as a serviceable blocker as well.
“I think he’s doing everything that we’re asking him to do,” Downing said. “It’s hard to get some reps that you’re going to need against another body (during the offseason) without pads on.
“But we’re also going to have to do a good job and be creative in how he does block and where we put him. He’s not going to hold against up against a 280-pound defensive end. That wouldn’t be fair. So hopefully we can continue to find ways to have him be in there, and help us when we do run the football and do some of the things that his natural skillset would lend him to be able to do when we throw the football.”
Hooper and Okonkwo are officially listed among the tight ends participating in the fund-raising competition that accompanies Tight End University. Bridgestone has teamed up with Tight End University for a two-week fundraising competition – June 6-20 -- to see which Tight End can raise the most funds for their hometown Boys & Girls Club. The Club of the player with most money raised will receive an additional $50,000.
Hooper and Okonkwo aren’t the only Titans looking to their peers for further education this offseason, however.
Defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons recently posted a social-media photo illustrating his attendance at Von Miller’s Pass Rush Summit in Las Vegas earlier this month. Simmons is coming off a Pro Bowl season that saw him total career highs of 54 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 58 quarterback pressures and 12 tackles for loss but has not taken part in any voluntary workouts that have been open to the media and presumably has stayed away for much, if not all of the offseason program to date.
Coach Mike Vrabel was asked last week if he liked seeing his players attend offseason camps such as the ones attended by Hooper, Okonkwo and Simmons.
“I don’t know,” Vrabel said. “I haven’t been to them, so I don’t know what they could gain or what they do.”
Added defensive line coach Terrell Williams: “I trust Jeff, and it’s good that he’s working with Von. We had Von when I was at Texas A&M coaching there (in 2010), and that’s a good place for (Simmons) to continue to hone his skills. There’s some other guys there that we know, too. So, it’s a good deal for him.”
