Chuks Okorafor starting at right tackle for Steelers vs. Rams; JuJu Smith-Schuster active
It’s official. The Pittsburgh Steelers have shuffled their starting offensive line for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.
The team announced that second-year Chuks Okorafor is making his second career start on the offensive line. After not playing a snap all season, Okorafor was named the starting right tackle. The move bumped Matt Feiler – who has started there for all but one of the Steelers’ past 19 games – to left guard, and bumps B.J. Finney from the lineup altogether.
Finney, one of the NFL’s highest-paid backup offensive linemen, started last week’s win against the Indianapolis Colts in place of veteran Ramon Foster. Foster is missing his second consecutive game because of concussion protocol.
In addition to Foster, it has been previously announced that running backs James Conner (shoulder) and Benny Snell (knee), special-teamer/fullback Roosevelt Nix (knee) would not play Sunday.
The healthy inactives are No. 3 quarterback Paxton Lynch, recently-signed reserve defensive lineman L.T. Walton and rookie tight end Zach Gentry.
A late-week foot injury that left him with an official designation of questionable did not keep JuJu Smith-Schuster from playing Sunday. The Steelers No. 1 wide receiver is in uniform after being the lone question mark among Steelers heading in the game that kicks off the second half of their the season. Smith-Schuster was limited in Friday’s practice.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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