Steelers offensive lineman Chuks Okorafor is paying tribute to two retired teammates with his latest pair of cleats.
Okorafor’s cleats honor guard Ramon Foster and center Maurkice Pouncey.
The cleats also say "legends never die."
The Nike cleats were designed by local artist Carlee Overly. She tells The Fan she has done projects for fellow Steelers Minkah Fitzpatrick, Benny Snell Jr, Trey Edmunds and JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Overly says she spent at least 10 hours working on the cleats.
Okorafor is the only real returning member of the offensive line for the Steelers, with Zach Banner going down with a knee injury at the beginning of the game.
Okorafor said there is a lot of discussion with new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm of playing more physical and pushing defenders off the line of scrimmage. He’s just not sure if players have taken to it and will apply the new teachings.
The former Western Michigan star lost out in a camp battle last year to start at right tackle, but Zach Banner went down with a knee injury during the first game. Okorafor took over and kept the job for the next 16.
Now it’s a move to the other side of the line, but Okorafor has done it before and said it’s not a big change. He even worked with left guard Kevin Dotson last year when he filled in for right guard David DeCastro for a couple of games.
“It doesn’t bring any more pressure than if it’s playing left tackle, left guard or center,” Okorafor said. “It’s still having to block for Ben and then block for Najee. Left side, right side, center, it doesn’t much matter to me. It’s mostly just having to block well for us.”
The 6’6” Okorafor whistled for a pair of holding penalties in 2020. Pro Football Focus reported he allowed 3 sacks playing 1,033 snaps. He takes over for what PFF rated as the worst starting left tackle in the NFL as Alejandro Villanueva signed with the Ravens.