In his first four seasons in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, tight end Chig Oknowko had never missed a game. However, it took him only one game with the Washington Commanders to get injured. He tried to play through the season opener, but missed Weeks 2 and 3 with a hamstring injury.
“Like I said, I’ve never missed a game in my career,” Okonkwo told Bryan Colbert Jr. on Washington’s "Next Man Up” podcast.
“So, I don’t think I’ve even really missed practices. So, just coming in the building and not really practicing, not really being around the guys, it was kind of weird feeling, but just knowing my bad right now is to rehab and get back 100 percent and make sure I’m ready to go and it’s so weird because it happened pregame. Usually, an injury
is going to happen in the game in a high-speed rep. But, it was pregame on a three-step slant and just happened, and after that, I had to mentally dealing with that,” Oknowko said. “I was scared coming in even the day after that. I’m like, ‘I wonder what they’re going to tell me about that MRI. I just hope they don’t say, ‘Yo, you got to go to IR.’ I hope they don’t say, ‘Oh, you got to miss this amount of games.’’ They came in and gave me the plan and told me, ‘You could be back in two weeks,’ and that was the best for me. If it’s just two weeks, I can deal with that. But if it was something like six weeks, mentally, now you start thinking. I’m just happy to rehab and get back to 100 percent.”
Since returning from his injury, Oknowko has 13 receptions for 134 yards, including a 29-yard reception in Week 6 against the San Francisco 49ers. However, he is still looking for his first touchdown of the year and could potentially get it against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8. But it may be a little difficult, given the Eagles have only given up two touchdowns to tight ends so far this year.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders TE Chig Okonkwo on frrustration of dealing with first NFL injury
