A year ago at this time, Brad Holmes had no issue confirming that the Lions would pick up the fifth-year option on T.J. Hockenson. He's making no such assurances about Jeff Okudah.
With the deadline approaching for a decision on Okudah's future with Detroit, Holmes told reporters Monday at the owners meetings, "We’ll just update you as soon as we make that choice on the fifth-year option."
The Lions must decide by May 1 whether or not to extend Okudah's contract through the 2024 season, which would cost $11.5 million. That's a lot of money to pay for a corner who was benched at the end of last season, during the Lions' best stretch of play on defense, no less.
Detroit also just signed three defensive backs in free agency, though only one of them, Cam Sutton, is signed beyond this season.
Holmes and the Lions still seem to have faith in Okudah becoming a quality player, and the former third overall pick showed flashes of being a starting-level corner early last season. Due to various injures, he's played a total of 25 games in three NFL season.
"The unique thing about him is that he’s still growing and he’s still learning as a player," Holmes said. "Even all the years that he’s been in the league already, it’s still been very minimal play time. Last year he was basically a rookie in terms of playing time, so he’s still got a lot of ability.
"But when the official decision comes on the fifth-year option I’ll make sure you guys are the first to know."
At the same setting last year, Holmes said the Lions planned to pick up the fifth-year option on Hockenson if the two sides weren't able to come to a long-term extension before the deadline, which is exactly what happened.
“Hockenson, obviously, he’s a big part of what we did last year," Holmes said. "It was unfortunate when he (got injured), but he’s another player that we’ll continue to lean on this year.”
We'll see what happens with Okudah.
Listen live to 97.1 The Ticket via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker