Steelers Now
The New England Patriots are set to release former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Chuks Okorafor on Monday, according to a report by Field Yates of ESPN.
Okorafor signed with the Patriots last offseason after leaving the Steelers, but he suddenly left the team after being benched during New England’s Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He was placed on the exempt/left team list, ending his season.
The Patriots will release Okorafor, which will allow him to sign with another NFL team immediately. Otherwise, he would have had to wait until the start of the free agent contact period on March 10.
Okorafor was released by the Steelers in 2024, two years into a three-year contract extension, in a salary cap-related move. He signed a one-year deal in New England that was worth $4 million, but ended up seeing just over $300,000 of that money.
The 27-year-old native of Ibadan, Nigeria was the Steelers’ third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and he spent the first six seasons of his career in Pittsburgh. After playing sparingly as a backup in his first two season, he replaced the injured Zach Banner in Week 1 of the 2020 season at right tackle, and held that job for most of four season.
Okorafor was benched by the Steelers in 2023 for comments he made on the sideline during a Steelers loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was replaced by rookie tackle Broderick Jones the following week and never regained a starting role in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers will have a need to sign a veteran backup tackle in 2025, with Dan Moore Jr. expected to move on in free agency and youngsters Jones and 2024 first-round pick Troy Fautanu expected to fill the two starting roles.
Calvin Anderson, who served as the team’s backup for most of the 2024 season, is a free agent. Practice squad members Dylan Cook and Doug Nester are the team’s only other tackles under contract for 2025.
