Report: Russell Okung patiently waiting for “satisfactory offer”

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Offensive tackle Russell Okung remains a free agent with the start of training camps looming. Okung plans on playing but isn’t in a hurry to sign, Adam Beasley of PFN reports.

Okung has had offers, just not a “satisfactory offer,” per Beasley.

“Okung is being super patient as he searches for the right opportunity,” Beasley reports. “It doesn’t sound as though he’s so desperate to play in 2021 that he’ll sign a below-market deal.”

It is unclear what Okung believes his market is. He made $13.5 million in his one season with the Panthers in 2020.

He played only 13 games the past two seasons combined, and his second of two Pro Bowls came in 2017. But Okung is only 32 and has 131 career starts.

Okung’s best opportunity might come with an injury to a left tackle on a team that sees itself as a contender. So his patience could pay off handsomely if that happens.

16 responses to “Report: Russell Okung patiently waiting for “satisfactory offer”

  1. LMAO…….still looking for work not only can the Steelers not afford him like the the rest of the league they not over paying for a broke down loud mouth

  2. Probably not likely hearing he is only worth some where around league minimum on a one-year prove it deal with all his injuries and health issues over the past few years. He can only be trusted as a back-up at the moment.

  3. There’s no such thing as a “below market” deal when you’re an unrestricted free agent unless you choose to sign with a team offering less money than another. Whatever the best offers are, that’s the market.

  4. Right Opportunity = a team suffers an injury late in the off season and offers him a one year so-so contract

  5. Weird, how everyone enjoys pontificating on someone else’s privilege to choose the time, place and compensation they’re willing to accept.

  6. Russell Okung starts when he is healthy, because he’s better than many. But, Okung has only played 16 games in a regular season ONCE in his entire NFL career. Yet he still managed to pull down 13Million last year in exchange for 7 games. He is good. But consistency on the line is better. Seek healthier options (they will almost necessarily be cheaper, in this case).

  7. Weird, how everyone enjoys pontificating on someone else’s privilege to choose the time, place and compensation they’re willing to accept.
    ——-
    Not really so strange considering the amount of money he would be getting. Agree if this were an Accountant job or some sort of Engineering job

  8. This is a cap thing. If the cap was still normal left tackles get paid just not this season. Not a bad player but only the best are gettin really paid this season in the form of long deals. Rentals are cheap

  9. I know he prefers BTC but I could probably get him something in the range of 8-10 million SHIB if he wanted to sign on to the WFT…

  10. Okung must realize that “below market” in the NFL is far far “above market” for anything else he might be qualified to do. But yeah, he should sit out. That’ll show them!

  11. Well he would only be an insurance policy at this point because he hasn’t proven to stay healthy for an entire season. I’d love to see the Bengal’s sign him since we haven’t had a tackle play the entire year for a while.

  12. As the article stated, some playoff level team will sign him when an inevitable season ending injury happens in camp or early in the year on a team thin at tackle. He won’t get top dollar or anything, but he will likely get $8+ million for roughly 6 months of work and do it all over again next year. Good for him.

  13. He can still receive a fairly lucrative deal but if I were that team it would be totally reliant of availability to practice/play with a low guaranteed base salary like 4 million…. Make him earn his money

  14. nsideindy says:
    July 13, 2021 at 8:20 pm
    Weird, how everyone enjoys pontificating on someone else’s privilege to choose the time, place and compensation they’re willing to accept.
    ——-
    Not really so strange considering the amount of money he would be getting. Agree if this were an Accountant job or some sort of Engineering job

    ———-

    Yeah, except, unlike accounting or engineering, he is destroying his body in the process. Fans love to compare football players to themselves or an average Joe. It’s a false equivalency that makes a fan feel better about his lot in life.

    An accountant can work until they are 70. Truth is that only good NFL players have a 10-15 year window to make money, however most don’t make it past their first deal. These guys aren’t greedy, they are trying to get what they are worth while they are worth it.

    Also – Okung is a veteran, and is good enough to skip training camps and sign after. Training camp is unpaid… no reason to put your body through that, especially when you’re already viewed as fragile.

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