Chuks Okorafor benched for ‘something I said,’ allowing for Broderick Jones to start for Steelers

When the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived for the first true day of work of their very short work week, coach Mike Tomlin needed to have a discussion with at least two men.

With Broderick Jones, the Tuesday chat was brief.

“‘Coach T’ told me to do something,” the rookie said late Thursday night. “I didn’t ask questions.”

Tomlin’s talk with Chuks Okorafor on Tuesday was a little more substantive.

“We had our talk,” said the veteran.

Tomlin’s talk with Okorafor — his longtime starting right tackle — involved telling him he would not be in the starting lineup for Thursday night’s game against the Tennessee Titans because of disciplinary reasons.

Jones was told he was switching sides and wouldn’t be repping as a left tackle during the abbreviated week.

“He told me to be prepared to play on the right side, and I said, ‘OK,’” Jones said. “And that was the end of that.”

Jones made his second NFL start but first at right tackle in the 20-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. The results, on a whole, were positive: no sacks of Kenny Pickett and a season team-best 5.5 yards per rushing attempt.

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“I don’t know if people understand how hard it is,” veteran center Mason Cole said afterward, “when a guy is taking majority left tackle (practice) sets and then switches over in a short week when physical preparation is limited and has to block elite pass rushers. So just credit to (Jones) to step up to the challenge and be ready for it.”

Jones, the Steelers’ first-round pick, has taken the vast majority of his practice reps on the left side.

Starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. has repeatedly been open about how awkward it is for him to switch to the right, and that perhaps explains why Tomlin elected to start Jones on the right side instead of Moore. That’s what had happened when Okorafor was injured for the final four offensive snaps of the season opener.

“It’s really not a big adjustment for me,” Jones said of switching sides. “Just because I feel like I am a natural athlete just being able to play both sides, I feel like that is a plus for me and for the team.”

Jones’ play was by all indications “above the line.” And getting the No. 14 overall pick assimilated into the offense to that level is a significant development for the Steelers (5-3).

But what might be more interesting is the reason Jones earned the start Thursday.

“I am healthy. It was just something I said,” said Okorafor, who’d started 55 of the Steelers’ past 56 games at right tackle. “I kind of had a … just the way the game was going last week, I kind of said stuff that I shouldn’t say. I just, being in Year 6, I can’t like act out the way I was acting out.”

Okorafor said the comments that got him into Tomlin’s doghouse came “on the field, during the game,” referring to Sunday’s listless 20-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But he would not go into much more detail in regards to what the comments entailed, who he said them to or who or what he might have referenced.

“I talked to Coach T, we already had our talk, and he said it was nothing to do with (the quality of) my play on the field,” he said. “It was stuff that happened last week toward the end of the game. I am not sure what is going to happen. We will have to see. Hopefully I can come back and play in another game.”

When asked by reporters during his postgame news conference about the decision to start Jones, Tomlin’s explanation was opaque: “I just thought we needed a spark. I thought Broderick had worked hard and was deserving of the opportunity, so we gave it to him.”

Okorafor, though, made it clear it was because of his words on the field at some point against Jacksonville. But his demotion wasn’t something he saw coming.

“Shocked, yeah,” Okorafor said. “But I couldn’t really do anything else but show Broderick (the ropes). Brod being able to play left and right tackle helps him and us a lot.”

Okorafor, who played a late-game snap Thursday as a tackle-eligible tight end, will seek to regain his starting gig next week.

“I hope I am back out there with the guys,” he said. “But who knows what’s going to happen?”

Whatever Okorafor said that got him benched, he still appeared to have the respect of his peers on the Steelers offensive line.

“What happened last week wasn’t going to change his focus for this game,” Cole said. “He was gonna be prepared. He was gonna be there for us. Chuks is a team guy.”

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