NFL Player News

Titans head coach Brian Callahan said Wednesday that Okonkwo and Josh Whyle are "two very different kind of tight ends" and both will have roles in the offense, Buck Reising of 104.5 The Zone Nashville reports.

Callahan classified Whyle is more of an in-line "Y" tight end and Okonkwo as more of an "F" (move) tight end, which perhaps hints at the latter being more involved than the former as a pass catcher. The team's initial preseason depth chart lists both as starters, a move that attracted some attention after Whyle played only 156 snaps in 11 games as a rookie in 2023. Okonkwo, meanwhile, took 692 snaps in 17 games, but he struggled for much of the season before improving late in the campaign and recording 61 percent of his yardage over the final seven weeks (322 out of 528 yards). His production was also heavily back-weighted during his 2022 rookie campaign, but in that season, Okonkwo simply didn't get much playing time early on. Callahan's quote makes it sound like another leap forward in playing time is unlikely for Okonkwo in Year 3.

Kraft (pectoral) said Tuesday that he expects to be ready for the Packers' Week 1 game against Philadelphia, Ryan Wood of USA Today reports.

Kraft suffered a pectoral tear early in the offseason and has been limited to individual drills at training camp since the Packers activated him from the PUP list Monday. The second-year tight end has more than a month to gear up for the season opener, and at this point, his role seems to be more of a question than his availability, as the Packers have fellow 2023 draft pick Luke Musgrave at tight end. Musgrave was the starter for most of last season and had plenty of promising moments, but Kraft had better receiving numbers when he got his chance to start, filling in late in the season while Musgrave recovered from a serious kidney injury. The Packers might even deploy a rotation rather than settling on one player as the clear No. 1 tight end.

Alie-Cox is listed as one of two starting tight ends on Indianapolis' first unofficial depth chart of the preseason, Amanda Foster of the Colts' official site reports.

Kylen Granson is listed as a starter at tight end along with Alie-Cox, who would function primarily as a blocker if the two were to share the field together. Though the 6-foot-5, 267-pound Alie-Cox still presents a big target in the red zone, his involvement in the passing game has faded over the past two seasons. He had just 22 targets in 17 games in 2023, finishing with 13 receptions for 161 yards and three touchdowns.

Fant left Tuesday's practice with an apparent foot injury, Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reports.

Fant reportedly left midway through practice and didn't return. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald didn't speak with the media after the session to provide an update, so the nature and severity of Fant's injury aren't yet fully known. The 26-year-old is positioned for a larger role than he had in 2023, as fellow tight ends Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly signed with other teams this offseason, while Fant re-signed with Seattle on a two-year, $21 million deal.

Woods is listed as the third or fourth tight end on Indianapolis' first unofficial depth chart of the preseason.

The good news is that Woods is healthy after injuries to both hamstrings cost him the entire 2023 season. The bad news is that he begins camp buried on the depth chart, and he hasn't made a lot of noise in practice. He's the most athletic of the Colts' tight ends and has the upside to emerge with a significant role in the passing game, but the team could continue to split targets between multiple TEs as it did last season.

The Commanders waived Rogers on Tuesday.

Rogers missed all of 2023 due to a torn Achilles' tendon. Despite returning for OTAs and training camp, he will now be on the lookout for a new team in need of depth at tight end should he clear waivers. In his lone season of NFL action in 2022, Rogers played in 11 regular-season games for the Commanders, finishing with five catches on six targets for 64 yards.

Dulcich is listed as the Broncos' No. 2 tight end on the team's initial unofficial depth chart, Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post reports.

Dulcich, who was limited to just two regular-season appearances in 2023 as he dealt with hamstring and foot issues, is listed behind Adam Trautman and ahead of Lucas Krull on Denver's current unofficial depth chart. That said, if Dulcich is able to stay healthy and impress as the preseason progresses, the 2022 third-rounder has the pass-catching upside to carry the most fantasy utility among the team's top TE trio in 2024.

Johnson is listed as a fourth-stringer on the Giants' initial preseason depth chart, but Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News notes that the depth chart at tight end doesn't reflect what reporters have seen during practices.

In other words, Johnson is still in the mix to start, despite being a rookie fourth-round pick who opened training camp on the PUP list with a hip injury. He took a lot of first-team reps his second day after being activated, and subsequent reports suggest that's continued into the second week of training camp, albeit with Daniel Bellinger also involved in the first-team offense. Lawrence Cager (hamstring) and Chris Manhertz also are listed ahead of Johnson on the depth chart, but they're specialized players that would be unlikely to play a lot of snaps even if they technically ended up starting. Johnson is the upside play of the bunch, having run a 4.57 40-yard dash at 6-foot-6, 259 pounds. His impressive showing at the NFL Combine led to a selection early in the fourth round, 107th overall, following a college career at Penn State with no more than 34 receptions or 341 yards in any one season (although he did score seven TDs his final year).

Bellinger is listed as the No. 1 tight end on the Giants' first unofficial depth chart, Dan Salomone of the team's official site reports.

With Darren Waller deciding to retire in the offseason, New York's starting tight end role is up for grabs. It makes sense for Bellinger to work in that capacity given that he was the starter during his rookie campaign before Waller was brought into the fold, but -- despite drawing positive reviews from the team's coaching staff -- he was only modestly productive with 30 receptions for 268 yards and two touchdowns over 12 regular-season games. The Giants drafted Theo Johnson in the fourth round of April's NFL Draft with Waller's then-potential retirement in mind, and he's worked with the first-team offense at times during training camp, so he appears to be the biggest threat to Bellinger attaining the starting role. However, on the the team's initial depth chart, Johnson is listed as fourth at tight end behind Bellinger, Lawrence Cager and Chris Manhertz.

Sinnott is listed as the third-string tight end on Washington's initial preseason depth chart.

It's not shocking given that there haven't been reports of Sinnott working with the starters at training camp, but he's still the Washington tight end with the most potential to make a dent for fantasy purposes, considering the guys listed ahead of him are 33-year-old Zach Ertz and veteran blocker John Bates. Ertz is a strong favorite to enter Week 1 as the team's top pass-catching tight end; the question is how long he'll keep that role after averaging 8.6 and 6.9 yards per catch for Arizona the past two seasons. Sinnott holds a massive athleticism advantage over late-career Ertz -- something he proved at at the 2024 NFL Combine with a 4.68-second 40-yard dash, 40-inch vertical and 126-inch broad jump. The 53rd overall pick had the best vertical jump, broad jump and cone drill (6.82 seconds) among tight ends at this year's combine, and he did it at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds, i.e., prototypical size for his position.