Jeff Okudah closed his eyes and let it all out. All the frustration. All the pent-up emotions from the last year, wishing he were here, making plays, doing precisely what he’s doing these days. It’s been a common occurrence this season — just the third of the Lions cornerback’s young career. But this time felt … different.
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There he was, on the road, celebrating a 31-30 win over the Chicago Bears, playing spoiler as the home crowd headed for the exits. His shoulder pads remained on. He made a beeline toward the tunnel and frolicked through the end zone on his way there. It was a moment so pure, and one that carries all the more weight considering what Okudah has been through and how he got here.
“Honestly, I’m just enjoying this year,” Okudah said after the game. “I’ve been through a lot of things my first two years, had plenty of lows. So I don’t take any of these moments for granted. Winning these games, being able to make plays, I don’t take any of that for granted. I’ve seen the other side of it. So I’m enjoying every single moment because you never know when the moment will be over.”
Big Jefe Energy #OnePride pic.twitter.com/lZdidXYkI6
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 13, 2022
There’s something pure about the way Okudah talks about the game these days. The way he plays it, too. He’s not one to pass up an opportunity to celebrate a big stop or a key play made for his team. It’s hard to miss. The emotions he plays with are just as visible as the No. 1 on his chest. And the thing is — none of it feels forced. It’s not done for attention. And it doesn’t come off as disrespectful. It’s simply a product of the long recovery and the culmination of an offseason of work to get here, to prove he belongs. Not to himself. But to those who were quick to write him off.
Okudah himself never lost confidence in his ability to contribute. But playing just 10 games before this season offered reasons to be skeptical. Entering entering the league amid COVID-19 restrictions, Okudah had a tough rookie season under former coach Matt Patricia. The torn Achilles suffered in Week 1 of his sophomore season put an end to a crucial year of development before it even began. The cart came for him on Sept. 12, 2021, and whisked him away to the locker room. A lengthy rehab kept him away from a game he’s played since he was a kid. Nobody quite knew what to expect in the meantime, or if he could even be counted on going forward.
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“I remember seeing him last year and he was real down about his injury and whatnot because he couldn’t play,” defensive tackle Alim McNeill said.
Think about Okudah’s football upbringing. He was a five-star prospect in Texas. He was the man on his team — an indispensable piece his coaches and teammates expected to make a play when needed. He went to Ohio State and it was more of the same. A Jim Thorpe Award finalist in his final season. A No. 3 NFL Draft pick, taken by the Lions to be an impact player.
You get used to that feeling of being needed. It’s difficult when it’s taken away.
“I can speak on this, just being honest with you,” said Lions safety Tracy Walker, currently recovering from a torn Achilles himself. “This type of injury is more of a mental thing. It’s hard to be around football and not be a part of it, if that makes sense. He’d definitely ask questions and he’d still learn — it was just from afar. Since he’s been here, he’s always been about business, always trying to get better. And to see him going out there and making things happen right now — his first two years, he wanted to come and do that and he wasn’t able to.”
But before Okudah could get to a place where he was producing, his coaches just wanted him to get reps. First came the mental reps. Picking up new wrinkles in the defense during his time away from the field, sitting in on meetings. Then, once he was cleared to return and play, real reps.
We heard it time and time again from the coaching staff. Banking reps. There was a certain value placed on taking the bad with the good. Diving into the playbook was fine and well, but there’s no substitute for the real thing and all that it entails. Okudah’s attention to detail and work ethic made it easy to overlook some struggles along the way — so long as he was learning from them.
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When it came time for his season debut, there was nothing left to say. It was simply time to sink or swim. If his head coach’s comments this week are any indication, the Lions know exactly what they have in Okudah. And they’re ready for more.
“I think Jeff’s officially out of the ‘just needs to continue to bank reps (phase),'” Dan Campbell said Monday. “I think he’s banked a lot of reps now and he’s continuing to get better and it’s showing. He’s playing physical. We’ve talked about him on the perimeter, he’s making plays out there and he’s just so much more comfortable and confident right now. So, man, he’s trending the right way.”
Okudah has started every game for the Lions this season. He’s been their most consistent cornerback, emerging as an indispensable piece of the defense. It began in Week 1 when he shut down the Eagles’ DeVonta Smith. He and the Lions secondary benefited from a strong game plan, and helped slow down Vikings star Justin Jefferson in Week 3. The Dallas game out of the bye, in which Okudah spent the week watching film with coaches to pinpoint areas of improvement, offered glimpses of Okudah at his best. He recorded 15 tackles and a tackle for loss. He offered versatility as a box defender, while still being a plus in coverage. Then came Sunday.
In the fourth quarter against the Bears, down seven, the Lions defense huddled on the visitor’s sideline. They talked about getting a stop, making a play, anything to keep them in a game that was very much there for the taking. That’s all Okudah could think about when he took the field.
When he exited, he had tied the game, intercepting Justin Field’s pass for his first NFL pick six.
Never taking these moments for granted.@jeffokudah pic.twitter.com/XSPkM0yEaa
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 15, 2022
“It was a crazy moment,” Okudah said. “Obviously we were down two scores, and it was a play that on the sideline we were saying: ‘We got to get a turnover. One of you guys got to be the guy to change the course of this game.’ So I took a lot of pride in creating that play for our defense.”
“It’s really exciting for Jeff to make that play,” McNeill said. “That’s exactly what we needed — a turnover and the touchdown. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I know more are coming for him in his future.”
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The Lions (3-6) have won two games in a row, both against division rivals. The effect the wins have had on this locker room is undeniable. Forget draft positioning for a second and focus on what the Lions have. There are young players on this team who would rather not make a habit of losing. Many of those same players are leading the charge.
Second-year wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown now has the eighth-most receptions through a player’s first 25 games. Rookie safety Kerby Joseph picked off Aaron Rodgers, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, twice in the same game. Rookie No. 2 pick Aidan Hutchinson recorded a clutch late-game sack and his high football IQ has been the catalyst behind multiple turnovers in these wins. Detroit has already matched last year’s win total with eight remaining games. This team is getting healthier, too.
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The player at the forefront of these good times, though, is Okudah. His teammates celebrate his personal wins just as much as the ones reflected in the standings. His energy is infectious, and it’s rubbing off on the locker room.
Lions safety DeShon Elliott, a fellow Texas native who’s known Okudah dating back to their high school days, believes these wins are helping Okudah get back to the player he was drafted to be — a difference-maker.
“Coming where we come from, we’re used to winning,” Elliott said. “To win two games in a row, it just brings that feeling back. It’s a feeling of remembering back at Ohio State, back in high school, being a winner. Building off that, it’ll fuel more guys around the locker room. We’ve been in a lot of games that we’ve lost that we should’ve won. We can do this s—. We can win these games.”
It’s easy to forget sometimes, but Okudah has 19 career games under his belt — a season and change worth of experience. His career trajectory is pointing upward again after a lost year of development and an offseason full of questions about his future. It’s not hard to envision him as a future captain of this defense, especially as the team adds more pieces around him. He exudes this childlike love of the game because he knows what it took to get back here. And when he can make a play like he did Sunday — in a win, no less — it means that much more.
“One thing about our team that I noticed is we just definitely kept the faith,” Okudah said. “Everything the coaches have been preaching this whole season, no matter what happened, no matter what our record indicated, guys just kept believing. I think when you have a team like that, that has an unwavering belief in the things that are being preached from top to bottom, I think you’ll get good results. Sometimes it’s a lagging process, but hard work is undefeated.”
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Okudah knows that better than anyone.
(Photo: Daniel Bartel / USA Today)
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