Steelers: 3 training camp battles that could define our season

2. Left Tackle: Chukwuma Okorafor vs. Dan Moore

The Steelers offensive line woes are well documented, which is the last thing a team with a 39 year old quarterback wants to hear. Nonetheless, it was evident that the Steelers struggled to keep pass rushers away from Ben Roethlisberger at the tail end of the 2020 season.

With Al Villanueva now in Baltimore, the Steelers already-thin depth at tackle got thinner, leaving fourth-year man Chukwuma Okorafor and rookie Dan Moore to battle it out to see who will get the starting job.

Okorafor played in 94 percent of the Steelers’ offensive snaps in 2020, mostly at right tackle following the Week 1 injury to Zach Banner. While Okorafor has experience to his advantage, he struggled at times to keep opposing pass rushers out of the backfield and opening up any sort of running lanes to his side.

While Okorafor isn’t solely to blame for the Steelers lack of running efficiency, he’s certainly got a lot to improve on. Dan Moore was selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round out of Texas A&M. His ideal fit is in a scheme that utilizes a lot of zone blocking, which is what new offensive coordinator Matt Canada will implement into the offense.

In all likelihood, Okorafor will start the season with the left tackle job, but he will be on a short leash. The offensive line is already down two All-Pros and a former Pro Bowler, so don’t be surprised if Mike Tomlin has to try moving some pieces around to find what fits.