Jeff Okudah is no longer a member of the Detroit Lions. The team ended the relationship on Tuesday bu trading the fourth-year cornerback to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2023 fifth-round pick.
While not entirely unexpected — the rumors were reaching fever pitch recently — it’s still something of a stunner.
Here are some quick, snap reactions on a few different angles to the Okudah trade.
The return from ATL
On the surface, getting only a fifth-round pick (No. 159 overall, a pick the Falcons previously acquired from the Jaguars) seems almost humiliating for Okudah. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 draft, after all.
But the Falcons are absorbing a rather significant cap hit along with Okudah. His salary and roster bonus (which the Falcons are responsible for) is over $5.1 million. That’s not cheap for a cornerback who figures to compete for the No. 2 CB job, and it’s also an expiring contract. Atlanta is paying that much for what they hope is 17 games of Okudah before he hits free agency.
The salary factor lowered what Lions GM Brad Holmes could realistically ask for in return for Okudah. No question it’s not as high of a return as hoped, but chances are it was the best Holmes could extract at this point.
Lions roster impact in 2023
It was generally expected that Okudah would compete for a starting cornerback role. He was clearly behind free agent acquisition Cam Sutton at one outside spot. Okudah was set to fight it out with Emmanuel Moseley and Jerry Jacobs for the other starting outside spot. And that’s before any draft considerations enter the mix (more on that in a second).
Okudah was not better than Jacobs was in 2022 and he costs nearly $4.5 million more in cap room. He was more expensive than Moseley too, and a healthy Moseley is a no-brainer starter over either Okudah or Jacobs in 2023.
There was some thought, including my own, that Okudah might be able to move into the slot role. Detroit signing C.J. Gardner-Johnson effectively ended that school of thought. With Will Harris returning to a position where he’s played his best ball, and does so cheaper than Okudah, it wasn’t a viable option.
5th year option
The Lions had no intention of picking up the fifth-year option on Okudah’s rookie contract. The deadline wasn’t for another few weeks but the team made it moot by trading him.
Draft impact
In the immediate aftermath, I tweeted this about the Lions draft:
My current take on the Lions draft:
6 is either Will Anderson or Devon Witherspoon. If 6 is Anderson, 18 becomes Deonte Banks— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) April 11, 2023
I’ll stand by that statement.
The Lions aren’t drafting for immediate need as much as they are building a long-term plan. Taking a corner high has always been a realistic part of that plan. Jeff Okudah was not part of that long-term plan, as noted above. In my eyes, nothing has really changed there other than maybe a slight uptick in urgency to get a CB.
Okudah's fate
I like Jeff Okudah. Liked him as a draft prospect coming out of Ohio State. Liked him when he was healthy early in 2022, when he played his best Lions football. Like him as a man off the field.
Will it work for him in Atlanta? I hope so.
The biggest thing he needs to do, aside from staying healthy, is to improve his focus. He thinks too much and it makes him hesitant, slows his reactions. Okudah needs to trust his eyes and his film study more. When he’s done that, he’s been a pretty solid NFL cornerback.
