Carter's Classroom: Okorafor vs. Feiler ☕ taken at Highmark Stadium (Steelers)

Chukwuma Okorafor (76) and Matt Feiler (71) toss a medicine ball at OTAs - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

The Steelers have plenty of new additions looking to take the field. But right tackle is a position they'll be looking for a young veteran to take over as the starter. The battle will be between Matt Feiler, who saw nine starts in 2018, and Chukwuma Okorafor, who started once in his rookie season.

Feiler had the upper hand last season, but the position is an open competition after Marcus Gilbert was traded to the Cardinals and Okorafor is no slouch.

From the Steelers' 24 sacks surrendered while protecting Ben Roethlisberger last season, Feiler accounted for six of the pressures that led to those sacks in just nine starts.

Some of those sacks came in moments when Feiler was purely outmatched by premier talent that was too explosive off the ball. But some of Feiler's sacks surrendered came from poor footwork that allowed him to give up plays because of poor fundamentals.

The spin move, in particular, was a big problem for Feiler at times. Watch how his feet stop chopping once he gets to his spot against Yannick Ngakoue. He gets to the outside position, but as soon as his feet stop moving, Ngakoue spins to his inside shoulder and has a free path to Roethlisberger:

This was a bit of a theme for Feiler after he became the regular starter in the wake of Gilbert's injury. Here he is against Joey Bosa, a prime edge rusher, but once again giving up his inside gap on a spin move because his feet freeze right when he's about to engage his man:

Feiler has the experience to learn from, but he has to improve his footwork to be more consistent at the point of attack. Even from when I wrote about Okorafor after he was drafted, his strength has always been his size and his ability to chop his feet and get to his spot.

Though Okorafor started only one game in 2018, he went up against Von Miller for an entire game and only surrendered one sack. Any rookie who does that deserves a further look to see if they can develop.

Feiler's work this offseason has to be about being more consistent in his footwork and fundamentals as a tackle. Otherwise he could see Okorafor overtake him in the depth chart during preseason.

Loading...
Loading...