Jeff Okudah already impressing Lions veteran cornerback
It can’t be easy for rookies entering the NFL in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has prevented the first-year players from interacting in-person with their new coaches and teammates.
The first time most of the league’s new crop of players will be with their teams is whenever training camp begins. It remains to be seen whether camps will get started in late July like always.
But Detroit Lions first-round pick Jeff Okudah is already making an impression on a veteran within his position group.
"I feel like he's coming in here pretty confident in his ability," Justin Coleman said of Okudah during a Zoom call recently. "But he's also hungry. I can see that he wants to learn everything possible. He's asking questions and stuff when we're in the Zoom meetings. He just wants to know more. Coaches going over plays and he'll ask questions about certain things that doesn't even have to do with cornerback. It just shows he knows a lot about football.”
Coleman, the six-year veteran corner who signed with Detroit as a free agent in 2019, knows what his message to Okudah will be when the two finally meet in person.
"I'm just really going to say, compete to the end," Coleman said. "Because as you know, it's professional level. Guys are extraordinary. Sometimes I've seen where rookies are there, they're on the play, they're right there at that moment, but just didn't make the play, couldn't get the ball out, so I'm just going to say he just has to compete to finish, because that'll take him a long way.”
The Lions selected Okudah out of Ohio State with the No. 3 overall pick. He was the sixth Ohio State first-round pick as a defensive back since 2016.
"For me, I try and take bits and pieces from different guys who have came in the league," Okudah said on his approach to the next level. "So, I'm always looking at the top corners in the game. (Richard) Sherman, I like his route recognition, Stephon Gilmore with the technique that he plays with. Patrick Peterson, I like his ball skills.
"So, I try and take little bits and pieces to add to my game like that. I watch hours of film study, and I will reach out to them to try and pick their brains a little bit and just asking them to drop a little nugget on me every now and then."
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