On Saturday, the New England Patriots put former Pittsburgh Steelers OT Chukwuma Okorafor on the exempt/left squad list. Ahead of their Thursday Night Football matchup with the New York Jets, the Patriots placed Okorafor on the reserve/left squad list, ending his season, per Field Yates of ESPN.
Okorafor was reportedly considering whether or not he wanted to continue playing football. He got benched in the first quarter of New England’s Week 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, replaced by OT Vederian Lowe, and it sounds as if Okorafor could retire.
Given he wasn’t activated off the exempt list in five days, the Patriots had no choice but to move him to the reserve/left squad list. It doesn’t necessarily indicate for sure that Okorafor will retire, but given that he didn’t come back to the team and was considering his future, it doesn’t look promising for him to continue his football career.
A third-round pick by the Steelers in 2018, Okorafor played in 77 games with 59 starts for the Steelers from 2018-2023. He signed a one-year contract with a base value of $4 million and just over $1 million guaranteed with the Patriots this offseason shortly after being released by the Steelers on Feb. 20.
With Okorafor no longer eligible to play this season, the Patriots will rely on Lowe (who will miss Thursday Night’s game with an injury), along with rookie Caedan Wallace to hold down left tackle. Okorafor was a right tackle for Pittsburgh, but New England moved him to left tackle after signing him this offseason, and the transition may have contributed to some of his struggles with the Patriots. New England has veteran Mike Onwenu at right tackle, and the team wanted to keep him there instead of kicking him back inside to guard, where he has some experience.
If it is indeed the end of the road for Okorafor, he’ll ride off into the sunset having been a solid, if inconsistent, contributor for the Steelers and lasting six-plus seasons in the league, which is more than a lot of players can say.
