Tackle play haunted the New England Patriots in 2023, and the team addressed it on Thursday by signing former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Chukwuma Okorafor.
The Patriots and Okorafor were “agreeing to terms” for a contract, according to sources, which was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. There is no information available on the 6-foot-6, 320-pound tackle’s contract.
Prior to his February release, Okorafor was signed to a three-year, $29.25 million contract by the Steelers, which ran from 2022 to 2024. He also had a four-year, $3.4 million entry-level contract with the team. He was chosen by the Steelers in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft from Western Michigan.
A Nigeria native, Okorafor’s family moved to the U.S. in 2010, and he became a high school football star at Southfield High School in Southfield, Michigan. WMU recruited him, and he made first team All-American in 39 career games, twice.
Terms of an agreement have been agreed upon by the Patriots and T Chukwuma Okorafor. #NFL #ForeverNE
Okorafor played in 77 games altogether, including two playoff games, and started 59 games for the Steelers. In four of his six seasons, he recorded offensive snap counts ranging from 94% to 100%.
Of the 14 games played in 2023, Okorafor started seven of them and took 50% of the snaps. Okorafor has been largely reliable since he started playing regularly in 2020, despite missing time due to injuries and being benched the previous season.
Chukwuma Okorafor Explained Benching in 2023
Pittsburgh sat Okorafor for a November 2023 game against the Tennessee Titans despite no appearance on the report on injuries. According to Okorafor, it was related to something he said during the previous game vs the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In November 2023, Okorafor told reporters, “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.” “It was things that happened at the end of the game last week.”
Chuks Onorafor claims he’s fine and that his remarks made during the last game on the field are what led to his relegation today.
“Yes, I’m shocked,” Okorafor replied. But all I could really do was demonstrate the ropes to Broderick. Being able to play both left and right tackle is very beneficial to both Brod and us.
Broderick Jones received the start instead for the Titans game.
Chukwuma Okorafor: ‘I Knew Nothing About Football Before That’
Instead of playing football as a child, Okorafor played soccer in Nigeria. According to Teresa Varley of Steelers.com in 2018, he saw the Super Bowl between the Steelers and Green Bay Packers after his family immigrated to the United States in 2010. That was his first football experience.
Okorafor admitted to Varley, “I knew nothing about football before that.””Not at all.”
“I’ve just loved football ever since I tried it out,” Okorafor continued.
He started off as a punter but soon moved to tackle because of his size, Varely wrote in 2018. Offers came his way amid his success at Southfield — including Ohio State and Oklahoma — but he opted for WMU in his home state instead.
Regarding playing football, Okorafor remarked, “It was something different, just being able to know the plays and the technique and stuff.” It required me a few months, or perhaps a year or two, to simply get used to it.
Okorafor’s family relocated to Detroit, thus he also had to become used to a new nation and culture.
Okorafor remarked, “I would say it was more the culture, but I don’t think it was a huge difference.”
For Heavy.com, Matthew Davis covers the NFL, concentrating on the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has also covered Minnesota prep athletics since 2016 as a contributing writer for the StarTribune.Additional information on Matthew Davis
