What player has been on the field most for the Pittsburgh Steelers over the past three years?

Not T.J. Watt, not Cameron Heyward, not Minkah Fitzpatrick nor Diontae Johnson.

The man who (literally) has played the most for the Steelers through the 2020-22 seasons is right tackle Chuks Okorafor.

Okorafor has been the Steelers’ ironman over the past three years, playing 3,480 snaps. He has started 50 of the team’s past 51 games (counting playoffs). Only Heyward can match that.

“I just try to do my job,” Okorafor said after the Steelers’ season. “I am still young, and I still know I can improve. Literally after every game, I say, ‘I know I was bad at this, I can do better at that.’ So I think I have a few more years to go, a long road left in my career.”

Okorafor will be 25 when his sixth NFL training camp begins in late July. But will he be reporting to Saint Vincent?

There is no guarantee of that — at least insofar as his contract isn’t — and the Steelers have a different general manager from when Okorafor was drafted in 2018 and signed to a three-year extension last spring.

The way that $29.25 million contract was structured allows the Steelers to release Okorafor without overly onerous damage to their salary cap: $6.17 million in “dead money.”

Far more likely, though, is the Steelers ride with Okorafor, probably in a restructured deal that eases a scheduled $13.1 million cap hit. Okorafor, though, is in no mood to be making assumptions.

“Who knows? I can’t be surprised by what might happen,” Okorafor said. “Everyone knows what might happen or what might not happen, so we will see how things play out.”

Aside from a 2021 game in Green Bay missed because of concussion protocol, Okorafor has been a rock anchoring the right side of their offensive line since late during the 2020 season opener when Zach Banner suffered a torn ACL.

Okorafor had lost out to Banner in a training-camp competition. The summer before, he also lost out in a bid to earn a starting role.

Since Banner went down 2½ years ago, though, Okorafor has been available, durable and largely steady. Though that might sound like faint praise, it also hasn’t been unnoticed or unappreciated by Steelers coaches who have had Okorafor as the lone constant over a period of remarkable transition along their offensive line between 2018-22.

“We had consistent availability in the offensive line” coach Mike Tomlin said after the season.

All five starters started all 17 games, including Okorafor.

“They grew individually and collectively at an increased rate because of that,” Tomlin said. “Where that leads us moving forward, hopefully, it is a springboard.”

By far the longest-tenured Steelers offensive lineman, Okorafor is almost like a time capsule. He joined a team that had a starting five that had been together several years. But over Okorafor’s first three seasons with the Steelers, Marcus Gilbert, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Alejandro Villanueva retired. Okorafor, meanwhile, went from raw 20-year-old rookie to veteran starter.

“Just now knowing that I am established at right tackle, it’s become routine,” Okorafor said. “A couple years ago it was different that I had to play both sides (as a backup) and didn’t know what I might be playing the next day or next game. Having that continuity has made me better. Now, I know how to be the best right tackle I can be.”

But is that good enough to stick with the Steelers? Each of the past three seasons, Pro Football Focus graded Okorafor as a slightly below-average NFL tackle.

Though it would not be surprising if the Steelers took an offensive lineman with a high draft pick, odds are they head into 2023 retaining their 2022 starting five.

That would be OK with Okorafor.

“I mean, of course. I signed a multi-year deal,” he said, laughing. “I did that because I wanted to be here, and I want to play here. So, hopefully I am.”

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