INDIANAPOLIS — Transitioning from covering the NFL to covering the draft isn’t always easy. If you’re in the pro football stratosphere non-stop from July to February, and you then have to whipsaw over to college players you may or may not have watched right away, you could show up at the scouting combine and get poleaxed by a high draft prospect as a result of your asking a woefully inaccurate question about that player’s overall game.
This happened to one poor reporter who was at the podium for Ohio State cornerback Jeffrey Okudah on Friday morning. Were it not for his teammate Chase Young, Okudah would be the consensus best defensive player in this draft class. Last season, per Pro Football Focus, Okudah allowed just 27 catches on 58 targets for 282 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 45.3. Over the last two seasons, he has allowed just 45 of his 106 targets to be completed. Those targets have yielded opposing quarterbacks have managed a passer rating of 52.9.
Okudah hasn’t allowed more than 50 yards receiving in any of the 27 games played over those last two seasons. There’s no such thing as a lockdown cornerback on every snap, but Okudah is certainly the closest thing to it in this draft class.
But there was one guy at the podium who saw it a different way.
Okudah is brilliance. What a response. pic.twitter.com/vxvSXAAPmW
— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) February 28, 2020
“Sometimes, you have a tendency to get kind of sloppy,” the reporter asked. “How are you looking to improve that?”
“Sloppy in what way?” Okudah responded.
“Sloppy in kinda… penalties and stuff like that,” the reporter said.
“I had zero pass interferences, zero holdings,” Okudah concluded. “Put the tape on again; you might see something else.”
Is Okudah a physical cornerback? Absolutely. It’s why he’s been compared to everyone from Jalen Ramsey to Aqib Talib to Richard Sherman as an ideal modern boundary cornerback. Like those guys, will he have to learn a different kind of physicality to get away with things other cornerbacks may not? That’s entirely possible. But to call a technician like Okudah “sloppy” just isn’t a good look in any way. Hopefully, this unfortunate gentleman will take this as a lesson, and at least learn to crib off the right scouting reports next time if he isn’t watching the tape.