Ahead of their Week Nine game against the Tennessee Titans, the Pittsburgh Steelers are shaking up their offensive approach. In addition to moving OC Matt Canada from the booth to the sideline, they’re making a change along the offensive line. Right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor has been benched for rookie Broderick Jones, per Adam Crowley of 93.7 The Fan, who reports that Okorafor is banged up.
Okorafor was not listed on the team’s final injury report, but Crowley’s tweet makes it sound like he’s dealing with some sort of injury that would hinder his performance. He has started the last 55 games for the Steelers. Though his contract runs through 2024, he has a roster bonus due next year that may not get picked up by the team.
It’s a surprising development. Jones was drafted to be the team’s left tackle of the future and all of his training camp, preseason, and regular season snaps have come on that side. He did work at right tackle earlier this year when Okorafor was going through concussion protocol, and Jones played a bit of right tackle in college at Georgia, logging 34 snaps during his career with the Bulldogs. It’ll be his first NFL start at right tackle, and his first time playing the position in a game since 2021.
If Jones was going to take someone’s spot, it was always assumed that would come at left tackle with him replacing Dan Moore Jr. Jones took over for Moore after he suffered a knee injury in Week Four, earning his first start in Week Five while Moore remained sidelined. Despite Jones playing well, the team returned to starting Moore at left tackle out of the bye against the Los Angeles Rams. Moore struggled in last week’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, allowing one sack per our charting. We also charged Okorafor for a sack in that game after getting run into the pocket by LOLB Travon Walker.
The move to start Jones also comes on a short week of practice. With a Thursday game, the Steelers did not practice Monday and only held a light walkthrough Tuesday. Wednesday was the team’s only full practice session.
