Why 2020 No. 3 pick Jeff Okudah and the Vikings are the perfect fit for each other

New York Times

2 days ago

EAGAN, Minn. — Over the winter, Jeff Okudah contacted Adam Stewart, a physical therapist and athletic trainer at Ohio State. Okudah's fifth NFL season was wrapping up, and he didn't know how much longer he wanted to dedicate himself to a dream that had scarred his body and mind.
Okudah had rehabbed a torn labrum in college with Stewart. Deep conversations formed a relationship that they'd both worked to maintain.
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'He is one of the most cerebral people I have ever been around,' Stewart said recently. 'He is a guy who really thinks through everything that's being said, and everything that he says.'
Contemplating his future after playing 77 snaps for the Houston Texans in 2024 had led Okudah back to Stewart. He asked if Stewart could concoct a letter of recommendation for an MBA program.
Of course, Stewart agreed. He typed up a draft and saved it on his computer. That's where it remains.
As it turns out, Okudah wasn't ready yet for Stewart to hit send. He wasn't ready to let go of the game that has given him solace from so much trauma. Okudah, 26, still believes. And perhaps just as important is that he's found a team in the Minnesota Vikings and a defensive coordinator in Brian Flores who still believe in him.
'We're going to have him in a role we feel pretty strongly about,' coach Kevin O'Connell said last week. 'To see him take it and run with it early on — he's had a phenomenal camp.'
Flores smirked wryly at the mention of Okudah on Saturday.
In 2020, when the Detroit Lions selected Okudah with the No. 3 pick, Flores' Miami Dolphins were focused on quarterbacks. They would select Tua Tagovailoa at No. 5, but during the pre-draft process, Flores watched the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Okudah. The defensive coordinator has remained intrigued because Okudah possesses many of the characteristics that coaches in Flores' defensive tree look for at the position: speed, length and toughness.
While reimagining his defense for 2025, Flores reviewed Okudah's more recent tape with the Texans and Atlanta Falcons. What he didn't know was that Okudah had been spending time reading about his defense.
'I saw some of the articles writing about the versatility of this (Vikings) defense,' Okudah said. 'It caught my eye.'
A few days into the free agency period, Minnesota's front office invited Okudah for a visit. The staffers impressed upon him that they thought he could contribute. Okudah wasn't sold by the words so much as the tone in which they were uttered. This didn't take Stewart by surprise. Some of Okudah's former coaches weren't shocked by that, either.
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'Jeff is one of those guys who plays for people,' said Greg Schiano, now the head coach at Rutgers. 'When he has a connection with a coach, he really plays for that coach.'
Schiano reaped the rewards of that in Okudah's first two years at Ohio State. The two had developed a bond during Okudah's recruitment. That's how Okudah, then the No. 1 cornerback in the country from Grand Prairie, Texas, chose the Buckeyes over Florida State, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama. That's why Okudah played the early portion of his college career with a shredded shoulder.
Their relationship was fused even further in January 2017, when Schiano informed the young freshman that Okudah's mother, Marie, had passed away after a battle with lymphoma. That news rattled Okudah to the core, evident in a letter he penned in The Players Tribune three years later. 'Dear Mom,' he wrote, 'I'm going to start by telling you something you already know: I miss you.'
Football offered an outlet for his grief. Schiano never lost sight of how much Okudah was navigating inside. Neither did Jeff Hafley, who replaced Schiano as Ohio State's defensive backs coach in 2019. Hafley earned Okudah's trust by picking his brain. He didn't holler. He wouldn't berate him after a blown coverage. Instead, they dissected the nuances of the position, which Okudah has always been able to handle.
Coincidentally, O'Connell, who is close friends with Hafley from their shared time with the Cleveland Browns in 2015, attended Okudah's pro day at Ohio State. 'I remember spending time with Jeff,' O'Connell said, 'and thinking to myself, 'This guy is going to be a top-five pick.''
'Okudah owns the necessary physical and mental makeup to be a No. 1 cornerback early in his NFL career,' wrote The Athletic's Dane Brugler at the time, 'projecting as one of the best defensive prospects in the 2020 draft class.' The Lions nabbed him at No. 3.
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But a groin injury torpedoed Okudah's rookie season. He tore his Achilles in the first game of his second season. In 2022, Okudah played well, holding up admirably in the first three weeks against DeVonta Smith, Terry McLaurin and Justin Jefferson. It helped that Okudah had safety help against the Vikings in Week 3, but Detroit's staff had only asked him to press Jefferson and trail him across the field. A refined role, one that he performed admirably.
Rookie CB Jeff Okudah's first career interception! #OnePride
📺: #DETvsAZ on FOX📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/xcinwkkjUL pic.twitter.com/2qX0scVQqv
— NFL (@NFL) September 27, 2020
That year climaxed with an interception of Justin Fields in Chicago. Afterward, Okudah skipped joyfully off the field and then said, 'Winning these games, being able to make plays, I don't take any of that for granted. I've seen the other side of it.'
He would see the other side again. An ankle injury in training camp sidelined him to open the 2023 season in Atlanta. Last year with the Texans, he aggravated his hip in Week 1 and missed the next nine games. A concussion ended his season in Week 17 and had him knocking on the door of leaving the game entirely.
So why didn't he? Why is he still doing this? What is it that convinced him this time could be different?
The answers to those questions are as much about the Vikings' views of him as they are about his goals for this fall.
'He's said how much he's excited about it there,' Stewart said. 'And that's one thing that can't be understated: He's smart enough to know when people have his best interest in mind, and to know who's really there to help him. He's not just going to let everybody in his circle.'
Okudah is going to have to stay healthy for this story to have a spectacular finish. He's going to have to continue to marinate in a defense as complex as any in the league. If Minnesota has made anything clear to him thus far, it's that none of this will have to happen alone.
Last week, he walked off the field alongside Flores. They were talking specifics: techniques, fundamentals, concepts. The nitty gritty of the game he still very much loves.