From the moment it was signed in March of 2022, Chukwuma Okorafor’s contract extension felt shaky. It wasn’t a mega-contract, but solid money to someone cemented as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting right tackle. That is, until he wasn’t. Okorafor fell into Mike Tomlin’s doghouse, got benched, and never gained his job back from Broderick Jones, who helped elevate the Steelers’ running game to where it needed to go.
It’s clear why the Steelers inked him to a three-year deal. They felt they had no other choice. To understand that is to reflect on the situation they were in, completely rebuilding their offensive line and not willing or able to spend the capital on a new right tackle along with all their other needs.
Pittsburgh’s offensive line entered a new era in 2021. Gone was Maurkice Pouncey, and by the spring, so too was David DeCastro, whose chronic ankle problem seemed to catch the team off-guard and led to his release and end of his NFL career. New to the line were left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and center Kendrick Green, mid-round rookies pressed into action. Moore held his own well enough. Green did not and was a disaster of Pittsburgh’s own making, misevaluating him as a prospect. This left the team heading back to the drawing board at center.
Heading into the 2022 offseason, the Steelers knew they had some measure of stability at two positions: Moore at left tackle and Kevin Dotson at left guard. Not great options, but viable candidates to start. Green couldn’t continue at center, and DeCastro’s right guard replacement, Trai Turner, was a one-year band-aid. It left a hole at center, right guard, and with Okorafor a pending free agent, right tackle.
Pittsburgh didn’t want to go down the road of having to find three new starters up front, just as they had the year prior (Moore, Green, and Turner). They identified center and guard free agents, quickly signing Mason Cole and James Daniels in free agency. Given how expensive it is to sign a free agent offensive tackle, and with no other internal options (Zach Banner’s knee injury hadn’t recovered, and he was released), Kevin Colbert and company felt like they had no choice but to re-sign Okorafor. Three years, nearly $30 million overall.
That’s not excusing it. It’s explaining it. And it’s proof of what happens when teams don’t have other moves to make. When you’re left with one option, that’s when you make mistakes. Chukwuma Okorafor wasn’t a terrible player. I’ve always said he was the best lineman on a bad line and the worst on a good one, but he wasn’t worth his contract. There was no standout trait in his game, and he certainly didn’t offer what the team needed as a run blocker. They needed a right tackle who could displace and finish in the run game. Okorafor was much more finesse than power. It’s why the line looked and felt different with Jones in there.
With Okorafor becoming a poor fit and doing something to garner Tomlin’s scorn, his release was no surprise. The timing of it, perhaps, happening the day after the Super Bowl, but there was no chance that the team would pick up his roster bonus and carry him through the summer. He’ll get signed somewhere else and probably be on someone’s 53-man roster, but who knows what kind of role he’ll have? Backup, probably.
In a larger view and for a separate article, this is one of Colbert’s mistakes in his last offseason. And why, as I said at the moment, he should’ve stepped down after the 2021 season instead of remaining GM through the 2022 NFL Draft. It didn’t make sense in principle and, in hindsight, didn’t work out in terms of the moves he made. Chukwuma Okorafor is just one of those examples.
