Aaron Glenn: Ex-Lions CB Jeff Okudah still can be a dominant player in NFL
The Detroit Lions traded Jeff Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons in April, but Okudah's former defensive coordinator with the Lions hasn't given up hope Okudah can become a dominant cornerback in the NFL.
"He has the capability to do that," Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Thursday in Allen Park. "I mean, he has all the physical traits that you look for at that position and he works his butt off. I know for a fact he’s doing that down there cause he gets a second chance and we text each other quite a bit, so we still have a good relationship."
Okudah is expected to make his Falcons debut Sunday against his old team at Ford Field, after missing the past two weeks with a foot injury.
Okudah, the No. 3 pick of the 2020 NFL draft, was taking first-team reps in the Falcons secondary when he injured his foot in training camp.
He told ESPN on Wednesday he has "no hard feelings" toward the Lions and is happy to have found a new home in Atlanta.
"In retrospect, I have to think of it in retrospect, I wouldn’t say I felt indifferent about it, but in retrospect I’m just really glad to be here,” Okudah told ESPN. “So I guess you could say it worked well for both sides."
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The Lions had high hopes for Okudah when they made him the highest-drafted cornerback since Shawn Springs in 1997, but Okudah never found a groove in Detroit.
He started six games and allowed a 118 passer rating as a rookie, when he missed the end of the season with a groin injury, then tore his Achilles tendon in the season opener in 2021.
Last year, Okudah started 15 games and had one interception, but lost his starting job late in the season to Jerry Jacobs. Not intending to pick up his fifth-year option, and after signing three new defensive backs in free agency, the Lions traded Okudah in April for a fifth-round pick.
Glenn disputed the notion that things didn't work out for Okudah with the Lions, saying he chooses to "look at it as him getting a better opportunity somewhere else" instead.
"And that happens across this league," Glenn said. "There are some guys that’s drafted to a team that, man, it just doesn’t work out and then they go somewhere else and they become Pro Bowlers and All-Pros. That’s just how it is, and you guys have seen certain guys that it happened to. ... Sometimes things don’t work out at one team. Man, you go to another team, you become a dominant player."
Okudah told ESPN he considers his time in Detroit “a lot of lessons learned." Now, it's up to him to use those lessons to become a dominant player.
"You kind of get rid of that utopia mindset that things will always go perfect and try to just take things as they come,” Okudah told ESPN. “In this game there’s a lot of competitors so things might not always go your way so it’s just how you respond, how you bounce back from all that."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Detroit Lions CB Jeff Okudah might make Atlanta Falcons debut
