Chuks Okorafor glad to be back with Steelers as 3rd-year starting right tackle

Like most NFL players, Chuks Okorafor waited four years before he could become an unrestricted free agent.

He waited less than six hours to go under contract once again.

“Obviously,” Okorafor said, “I wanted to be back, because I came back. And obviously, they wanted me back, too.”

Two-and-a-half months after signing a contract that could be worth $29.25 million over three years, Okorafor is back practicing with Pittsburgh Steelers teammates during organized team activities sessions this week and next. Okorafor is entering his third season as the Steelers’ starting right tackle since taking over the gig late in the 2020 season opener.

Since the team allowed Okorafor to reach free agency and the team’s offensive line play was subpar last season, news of Okorafor’s extension early on the first day of “free agency’s legalized tampering” March 14 came as a surprise to many on the outside.

In the Steelers locker room, though, the re-signing of the affable Okorafor was well-received.

“Yeah, I was excited when I heard,” Steelers starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. said. “I texted him right after. Happy my guy’s back, definitely.”

When Okorafor started four games over his first two seasons after being a third-round pick in 2018, he was a 21- and 22-year-old youngster playing alongside a group of accomplished veterans in David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey, Ramon Foster and Alejandro Villanueva.

All of a sudden, Okorafor has become by far the team’s longest-tenured offensive lineman. Moore was a rookie last season, 2022 free-agent signings Mason Cole and James Daniels are atop the depth chart at center and right guard, and left guard will be a competition between second-year pro Kendrick Green and third-year pro Kevin Dotson.

“It’s crazy,” Okorafor said. “Times flies, for sure. Time is flying by.”

Extending it out to the whole team, only six players on the 90-man roster (Cameron Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Chris Boswell, Tyson Alualu, T.J. Watt and Cameron Sutton) have been with the Steelers longer than Okorafor, the 92nd overall pick in the 2018 draft.

That stature as a veteran hasn’t changed Okorafor’s approach to relating to teammates.

“Honestly, for me, I can lead by example,” said Okorafor, who has started 33 of the Steelers’ past 34 games (including playoffs). “I’m not the type to go out there and yell and scream. … I just try to be more myself.”

What Okorafor was last season was a tackle who, according to Pro Football Focus, allowed only two sacks and 23 pressures all season, a pass-blocking “efficiency rate” of 98.1% that ranked tied for fifth in the NFL among starting tackles.

Still, the Steelers’ problems in the running game were well-chronicled, and only one NFL tackle was flagged more often than Okorafor (11 penalties).

Perhaps that’s why Okorafor’s contract was structured in such a way that the Steelers could release him after this season without a crippling salary-cap ramification. The only guarantees in the deal were a $9.25 million signing bonus and a league-minimum salary this season.

“I take every day to approach it as having something to improve on,” Okorafor said. “Even if it’s just one thing to improve on, if you go to add one thing here or one thing there just to make yourself a better player, you’re better off.”

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