The 2020 NFL Draft is still a few months away, but with the chatter, mock drafts, and scouting reports are all starting to ramp up. You can bet it’ll only become more front and center after all the Super Bowl shenanigans pass by this weekend.
For Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okudah, that means he’s going to be dissected, talked about, and put under a microscope from here all the way through the night of the draft on Thursday, April 23.
In fact, he’s already being talked about as an extremely high draft pick. Mel Kiper and Todd McShay both have him going No. 3 overall to the Lions as the best DB available in this year’s draft. So, of course, the local media in Detroit are already starting to get a feel for what type of player Okudah is (though it could just place a phone call to Jim Harbaugh).
On that note, the Detroit Free Press caught up with All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay at the Super Bowl in Miami to ask his opinion of what he sees from the talented Ohio State corner. And, in a bit of a surprise, Slay said he has already reached out to Okudah.
“I talked to him already,” said Slay. “He’s a hell of a player man, I watched his film. I watched some of his games — man he competes at a high level. There’s a lot of stuff I can help him with and make him a great player.”
Darius Slay already likes what he sees from Jeff Okudah.
Might the two cornerbacks pair up for the #Lions in 2020?https://t.co/BBi3KOkxdd
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) January 29, 2020
That kind of sounds like Slay is hoping the Lions might be going that direction like everyone thinks, but it’s certainly not set in stone. Regardless, Slay plans to stay in touch with Okudah whether he is selected by Detroit or not.
When asked to break down Okudah’s game, Slay had some extremely high praise for him.
“You can see that he makes plays man,” Slay said. “He’s a ballplayer — competitive. I see his feet. He does a lot of technique that I use, you know, just moving my feet good and staying on top, making plays on the deep ball. You can tell he takes away the deep ball first easily, but with him being so quick and so long and aggressive, he takes away a lot of other stuff.”
That’s pretty significant comment coming from a guy that should know.
Boy, if the Lions do pull the trigger on Okudah, it would have the potential to set up quite the tandem at the cornerback spot. On top of that, it looks like he could have an advocate and mentor by way of one of the league’s best corners to help him along.
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