Has Chukwuma Okorafor played his last snap with the New England Patriots?
The Patriots placed the veteran offensive tackle on the exempt/left squad list Saturday, meaning he's currently not with the team and isn't taking up a spot on the 53-man roster for Sunday's Week 2 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.
So, what's going on with Okorafor, who signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Patriots this offseason and was their starting left tackle in Week 1? The 27-year-old is "stepping away to ponder his future" in the NFL, Karen Guregian reported Saturday.
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"Typically, players on the Exempt/Left Squad list wind up with that designation after leaving the team without notification," Guregian wrote. "But Okorafor’s representation was in contact with the team, telling them the offensive lineman was reconsidering if he wanted to continue to play."
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Okorafor played almost exclusively at right tackle during his first six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers but bounced between left and right tackle during Patriots training camp and the preseason, and admitted to NBC Sports Boston's Kayla Burton he was struggling with the transition from right to left tackle.
Okorafor then was benched in favor of Vederian Lowe during the first quarter of the Patriots' Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals when he allowed a sack off the left side. He didn't return to the game.
Head coach Jerod Mayo said he had a conversation with Okorafor that focused more on the lineman's mental health than when (or if) he'd return to the team.
"I had a conversation with Chuks, and first, it had nothing to do with football," Mayo said Sunday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, via the Boston Herald's Zack Cox. "I called him, and it had everything to do with the man. I wanted to make sure that he was good, in a good space and really considering and taking into consideration that this is what he wanted to do.
"But once again, I look at these as long-term relationships and care more about the individual than anything else."
Lowe was the Patriots' starting left tackle Sunday against Seattle, and it sounds like the Patriots may have to brace for being without Okorafor for the foreseeable future.