Former Pro Bowl left tackle Russell Okung is still sitting in free agency. Here’s why he would be a significant upgrade for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 2021 NFL Draft is in the books, but the Steelers shouldn’t be done adding talent just yet. While the team has just $9.3 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap– a number that will go down after they sign the rest of their rookie draft class – Pittsburgh should be doing everything in their power to improve their roster in what is very likely the last year of their Super Bowl window.
One position the Steelers could really afford to upgrade is offensive tackle. Alejandro Villanueva departed for Baltimore in free agency this offseason, and Chukwuma Okorafor (who is projected to be the starter at left tackle next season) is coming off a bad year in 2020. Last season, Okorafor graded out as the 70th ranked offensive tackle among 79 eligible players, according to Pro Football Focus.
Considering that there are only 64 starting offensive tackles in the NFL, this clearly isn’t good. While Okorafor may still be young (turns 24 in August), he hasn’t given us reason to believe that he will turn things around in his fourth NFL season.
Left tackle is one of the most important positions in all of football, and the Steelers shouldn’t enter the season with a huge question mark at this spot. In a closing Super Bowl window, they should make sure that they have a quality starter protecting Ben Roethlisberger’s blindside.
Why Okung makes so much sense for the Steelers
Enter Russell Okung – a 12-year veteran with a pair of Pro Bowls in his past. Though he’s now 33 years old, the long-time starting left tackle is coming off yet another very solid season. Unlike Okorafor, Okung graded out well last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and he has earned a very respectable overall grade of 73.0 or above in 4 of his previous 5 seasons.
Okung’s 2020 campaign was shortened due to a calf injury last season, but now fully healthy, there is plenty of reason to believe that he will return to form in 2021. In fact, it’s somewhat shocking that the veteran left tackle is still in free agency at this point, and there has been more news about him losing money from Bitcoin than there has about his football status.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Okung would be an upgrade over the offensive tackles the Steelers currently have, but getting this to work financially could be a little bit tricky. While I would have presumed that Okung would still rake in a solid chunk of change this offseason, the fact that he is still on the market makes me believe that he could be had for cheaper than originally expected.
Riley Reiff – a player of very similar status and age – signed with the Bengals for $7.5 million this offseason (with a voidable year stipulation in 2022). Because Okung has been waiting around so long, I expect his cap number to come in even lower. While this big of a cap hit could be hard to take all at once, the Steelers could offer up a two-year contract and push a large majority of this money into the 2022 season – lowing his 2021 cap number.
There are certainly ways to go about acquiring a veteran left tackle like Russell Okung in free agency. The Steelers were able to add depth to a number of big needs this offseason, but finding a significant upgrade at left tackle could really help their offense in 2021.