He should be, especially with the way he finished last season in the first games he ever started in the NFL.
Okoronkwo tallied five sacks in the last eight games of the year when he became a starting player for Houston and pressured the quarterback just as much as his new defensive end teammate — his 16.4 pressure rate late season was third among all NFL edge rusher with 200 or more snaps, which was one spot ahead of Garrett (16.3), according to Next Gen Stats.
Garrett, of course, was one of the most double-teamed players in the league last season and will likely continue to be in 2023. Okoronkwo will command extra attention as well, especially if he maintains his level of success from 2022.
“I think me and Myles both possess a combination of traits — speed, power and quickness,” Okoronkwo said. “That coming off of both edges is going to be a lot for an offensive line to deal with. We’re just excited to see how they are going to try to block us.”
So what helped Okoronkwo play the best football of his career toward the end of last season?
He believes it was all about opportunity.
Injuries significantly hampered the beginning of his career, which started by not playing a game as a rookie due to a foot injury. After playing 10-games in an injury-free 2019, he was back on injured reserve in 2020 and missed five games with an elbow injury. The next season, he landed on the list again and missed the first month of the season with a shoulder injury.
Last season was finally different — it didn’t include time on the sideline in a T-shirt and sweatpants or any period spent in injury rehab. Okoronkwo was active all season and finally cracked a starting job after nine games spent only as a rotational player.
With more snaps came more sacks.
“I went from playing anywhere from eight to 10 snaps to 30,” he said. “When you get more snaps and more opportunity, you get to do more things with it. I feel like when I got moved to the starting position, I took full advantage of it.”