Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah had a lot of time on his hands after undergoing double-core surgery last December. It was around this time that he discovered a quote on YouTube by the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus that says, “We must undergo a hard winter training and not rush into things for which we haven’t prepared.” On a recent episode of The Daily Stoic podcast, Okudah said those words “really propelled my offseason.”
“Reading that quote and coincidentally it being December in Detroit, it was really a winter,” Okudah said. “I didn’t get a Miami winter, I got a Detroit winter. So I was able to get the whole imagery and then also live the reality of that. I was in Detroit doing my rehab from December all the way until April. Having that quote on hand is something that helped me come to terms with, this is going to be a tough winter, get ready for it, but also embrace it.”
Okudah emerged this spring with a healthier body and a sharper mind, and a renewed hunger for being great. He said this offseason he’s ready to show a “different level” in year two with the Lions. Year one was ugly. The third overall pick suffered a hamstring injury early in training camp, in part because he said had to “freestyle” his training program for his first NFL season due to the pandemic. He said he “didn’t have a feel” for what to expect and he never recovered once the season began.
“I felt like I over-prepared,” Okudah said on the podcast. “I was trying to work out every single day. I was trying to do all this running and my body was going through it. When it came down to the season, I was already burnt out. I ended up having to get surgery on both of my groins. I had to learn you’ve got to pace yourself and you want to peak at the right time.”
Hampered physically, Okudah was torched as a rookie. You know the numbers, so we won’t rehash them here. The critics were harsh, none harsher than Okudah himself. He was aghast at his own play.
“I remember my rookie year watching film, I’m looking at these veterans and it almost seems like they’re relaxing on the field, and I’m over here running around like a chicken with my head cut off, just running around,” he said. "And then you tend to learn, ‘OK, the reason he’s relaxing is because he knows with this formation and way the receivers are lined up, he’s not expecting this to happen or this to happen. He knows that this is going to happen.’ So he doesn’t have to be running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He can play way more calm, and that comes with experience.”
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Okudah spent a lot of time this offseason dissecting film with Lions new defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant. He said in May that he’s already seeing the game from “a whole different perspective.” This was part of his hard winter, confronting his flaws to correct them.
“For me, it just keeps that fire burning. Instead of getting down on yourself, if you have that mindset of loving what’s happening, it’s like, ‘Oh, I wish that would happen again because now I have a chance to respond to it in a different way.’ As opposed to saying, ‘I hope that doesn’t happen again because I don’t want to be embarrassed, now it’s like, ‘Let that happen again. That’s just an opportunity for me to show my growth.’”
Such opportunities will be in high supply this season. Along with Pleasant, Dan Campbell and new defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are counting on Okudah to play a key role in Detroit’s young secondary. Veterans Desmond Trufant and Justin Coleman are gone, and Quinton Dunbar is the only proven corner who’s new to the roster. Entering training camp, Amani Oruwariye and Okudah are likely 1-2 on the depth chart.
Okudah, 22, looked more in control of his reps during OTA’s, when he said “everything just felt so much more calm.” It helps to be healthy, to be able to open up his stride without restraint. It also helps to be wiser. Okudah said he did as much mental work this offseason as physical, if not more, with an eye toward staying healthy throughout the year.
“I feel like I’m in better physical shape than I was last offseason,” he said. “It's an interesting thing to me now, because I’m trying to grasp the concept of doing less but achieving more.”
His hard winter is over. The summer is nearing a close. The fall awaits, and Okudah feels more prepared than ever.