Check the Report: Daniel Kelly Scouts CB Jeff Okudah
CB Jeff Okudah - 6-foot-1, 205 pounds (starter)
Grade: A (Blue-chip player; elite)
Scouting Report
Ultra-confident, physical corner with good playing speed, and excels in man coverage. Lions' top draft pick in 2020.
First impression was Deion Sanders. I am not saying he is Deion Sanders, but he definitely has some of that to his game in terms of his confidence and his swag.
40-time came in at 4.48 seconds (NFL.com). Looks even faster than that in terms of playing speed.
Aggressive, can come up in tight press coverage, jam, bump and run or he can play more off pre-snap. Shows he can drive hard downhill on short screens, and blow things up. Banger. Likes contact.
When matching up against receivers, he's fluid-looking covering routes, shows the ability to naturally flip hips and to turn and run. Can match up and carry deeper vertical routes. Does a nice job positioning himself to make a play on the ball.
Shows he will go up and challenge receivers for the ball. Tends to get physical with receivers. Reads receivers well. Tends to know when the ball is in play and when it's coming his way. Phenomenal ball skills and instincts. Dynamic play-maker. Wants it. Looks like a corner with the mentality of a receiver. At times, looks like he knows the routes better than the receiver does. Smart-looking player. Heady.
Has good short-area burst and close on underneath, shorter routes. Can jump routes. Absolutely will take advantage of quarterbacks that tend to lock in with a receiver. Reads quarterbacks. Looks into the backfield. Ball-hawk.
Best way to beat him is to match up with a receiver who can run tight and clean comeback routes when the receiver can drive him hard downfield by selling a deeper vertical route and then, quickly breaking it off and transitioning back downhill toward the ball.
Clemson got him a few times in the Fiesta Bowl like that or when they could use the back-line in the end zone as a boundary.
Will stick his nose in there on run support.
Social media and criminal background search came back mostly clean. Did publicly say on a TikTok video and a call he disagreed with, "I'll never forgive those referees," after the Fiesta Bowl (247Sports.com).
Played a little receiver in high school. Parents from Nigeria. They moved to America in the 1980s.
Dealt with the personal adversity of losing his mother to lymphoma (cancer) in 2017.
Would love to see him get a chance as a punt returner. Had kickoff coverage experience early in college.
Projects as the shutdown corner on the Lions for the next decade who can easily transition to FS (free safety) in the twilight of his career.
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