Lions’ Jeff Okudah Shouldn’t Catch Heat for Tough Debut

Getty Jeff Okudah gets burned on a pass by Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

The optics on Sunday admittedly weren’t great for Detroit Lions’ rookie cornerback Jeff Okudah against the Green Bay Packers.

Most of the afternoon, Okudah looked a step slow, a step behind, or out of position altogether when it came to his play on the field. Aaron Rodgers often looked in his direction, and did so with relative ease. Such is the case when you’re an elite veteran going up against a cornerback making his first start. What was long expected to play out happened in ugly fashion.

As a result, the familiar temptation in Detroit will be to call Okudah a bust after a single week on the field, and also begin to cast an eye backward at the 2020 draft to proclaim who the team should have selected instead. While the Lions themselves deserve plenty of guff over their miserable start to the 2020 season, one person should be kept out of the fire for the most part in Okudah.

First of all, the 2020 offseason was unlike any other in NFL history. Teams didn’t have an OTA period to get their rookies acclimated. Most of those rookies didn’t have any contact with the team facility until late July near the start of training camp. Once in camp, the learning curve was then sharp. Okudah didn’t have much time to learn his new teammates, his new defense or his new surroundings.

By the time Week 1 rolled around, Okudah was also dealing with an apparent hamstring injury. After sitting Week 1 and not even being so much as in attendance for the game, Okudah then was thrust into the spotlight against one of the best quarterbacks in football on the road.

Forget trial by fire, this mission was doomed to fail from the beginning.

So when watching Okudah look a step slow going up against the likes of Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Lions fans need to remember the totality of the picture. Okudah is likely to improve with the more comfort and reps he is able to get under his belt. He’s also likely to apply the lessons he learns in order to reach said improvement as has been done in Detroit before.

Lions Fans Should Remember Darius Slay’s Rookie Year

A good point of reference for this discussion in Detroit is former cornerback Darius Slay. After Slay was a second round draft pick in 2013, the Lions threw him to the wolves and it showed. Slay’s metrics were miserable to start, and there was simply nowhere for the rookie to hide on the field. He was routinely burned and picked on.

Slay’s first season featured numbers that would be considered ugly by his own standards. As a rookie, Slay played in 13 games with just 4 starts. He only piled up 34 total tackles with no interceptions. Worse, he was often picked on and exposed leaving folks to wonder if the Lions had made another terrible drafting mistake.

From there, though, Slay committed himself to improvement, took what he learned from a rough rookie year and made strides as a sophomore. In 2014, he’d put up 61 combined tackles and 2 interceptions as part of playing in a resurgent defense. After that, he became a Pro Bowl player who took on the look as one of the top 15 cornerbacks in football.

Few people would have predicted Slay to make the strides he did following his rookie year, but that’s just what played out. Theoretically, as the No. 3 pick, Okudah’s ceiling might be even higher than Slay’s was.

Jeff Okudah’s Case for Improving

If there’s one thing that can be said, it’s Okudah will get back in the lab and try to improve quickly. He’s been described as a football junkie by his Ohio State coaches, and Matt Patricia has seen that as well early while working with him. Okudah isn’t likely to burn the tape from his rookie debut, but rather use it to improve and study it intently. It’s likely he will be even more frustrated by his debut than the angriest fan.

This offseason, Okudah was said to already be studying wideouts he will match wits with routinely such as Adams. Essentially, he’s learning on the job, so expect things to get worse in the coming weeks before they ever get better. In time, as Okudah gains more confidence and understands the league more, some modest strides could be expected.

Should the team continue to struggle as a group, don’t cast your frustration in the direction of Okudah. The Lions have plenty of problems, and a rookie cornerback learning a tough position on the fly isn’t likely to be their biggest issue by the time the season ends.

The significant bet is Okudah will improve greatly in time following what was a rough debut. It’s never easy to ask Lions fans to be patient, but in this particular case, it’s the only realistic command.

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