Image courtesy of Pittsburgh Steelers

The first offensive line domino has fallen for Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo.

Despite free agency not officially starting until next week, the Pats signed former Steelers tackle Chukwuma Okorafor on Thursday after he had been waived by Pittsburgh, which is why he could sign early.

This is an important first step in trying to rebuild the O-line, although pieces like Sidy Sow, Cole Strange and David Andrews are all back and the cupboard isn’t as bare as some might think.

According to Mark Daniels, the Pats are still trying to work out a long term extension with Mike Onwenu too. Ian Rapport had it first.

Okorafor brings size (6’6″ 320lbs.) and a level of NFL experience to the line that was desperately needed. While drafting a tackle is still in play at some point, this is a great little signing in case they can’t get something done with Onwenu. Okorafor has started 59 games at tackle (mostly right) spanning seven years in the league. He started seven games for the Steelers last season before ultimately losing his starting role.

While the change was supposedly performance based, Okorafor was also very vocal about Matt Canada and the Steelers offense, which caused some problems with the team and head coach Mike Tomlin, ultimately leading to his benching.

Okorafor was a third round draft pick out of Western Michigan (92nd overall) in 2018. From 2020-2022, Okorafor played in 16, 16 and 17 games, starting 15 in 2020, all 16 in 2021 and all 17 in 2022. Last year, he played in 14 and started the seven as mentioned above, giving up just two sacks.

While this isn’t an earth shattering or huge news-type of move, it’s a significant one early on in this offseason as New England tries to limit how long this “restart” is going to take, particularly on offense.