Jeff Okudah was supposed to be an immediate difference-maker in Detroit's rejuvenated defense. Instead, the third overall pick was routinely torched when he wasn't sidelined by injuries and the Lions surrendered the most points and the most yards in franchise history.
"2020 was definitely a year of growth, really since I’ve been playing football my most adverse year with everything I had to go through, me myself and us as a team," Okudah said Monday as the Lions closed the book on a brutally disappointing season. "I know for me personally it was just a different year having to deal with injuries, and obviously you want to win more as a competitor and you want to play better from that perspective.
"It was really hard to come to terms with just not playing to the standard of the city of Detroit and what they expect to see out there."
Okudah missed the season-opener with a hamstring injury, was baptized a week later by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, later dealt with groin and shoulder injuries, and ultimately underwent season-ending core muscle surgery in mid-December. Opposing quarterbacks, when throwing Okudah's way: 41-53, 594 yards, two touchdowns, one pick and a rating of 118.0.
"Going forward, definitely have that on my mind and definitely something that is really going to fuel my hunger this offseason," Okudah said. "Not necessarily trying to prove everyone wrong, just trying to prove a lot of people right."
Two of those people are already gone. Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia bet big on Okudah in last year's draft, bigger than any team has bet on a cornerback this century. They didn't get close to the pay-out they were expecting. Defensive coordinator Cory Undlin, brought here last offseason by Patricia, will be gone soon, too. You don't keep your job when your defense breaks franchise records for futility.
For Okudah, 21, the transition from one of the best college programs in the country to one of the worst teams in the NFL was a bit of a shock. And ultimately an experience for the better.
"I think I’ve grown a lot with how I respond to adversity, knowing what kind of man I am and what kind of player I am in different situations. Because the reality is, when you’re at Ohio State things are really looking up a lot of the time. You don’t really have to deal with losing, you don’t deal with dysfunction. I think that when you’re put into a situation (where) this is just how real life works, you kind of get your little fantasy bubble popped and now you’re in the real world."
Here's what Okudah learned about the real world, at least the real word in Detroit: people aren't always on the same page. Asked about the dysfunction he referenced, Okudah said there was a lack of "transparency" between the coaches and the players. He also suggested there was a delay in determining a "concrete plan" to treat his various injuries and ultimately whether or not to have surgery.
"From my standpoint, I think everyone, all parties involved, everyone could have been transparent," he said. "Obviously this is a grown man’s league, I’m a rookie and I think it’s pretty clear to see that it’s a grown man’s league. So I think that something that players always appreciate, as well as coaches and the front office, is just transparency. No hidden agendas, everyone just being transparent the whole time. I think that when you have an organization that is run on that premise, you have a solid organization."
Asked if the dysfunction was related to strategic issues, schematic issues or personality conflicts, Okudah said, "I would go ahead and probably just throw everything into that. I think that going forward, that’s probably the first thing that players will try to do, is just create that chemistry early and expand on it from there."
Under Patricia, Okudah said the relationship between the players and the coaches was more adversarial than what he was used to at Ohio State.
"When the players and coaches aren’t aligned, you’re going to have to deal with dysfunction. I think that’s just going to be a byproduct of that situation," he said. "I don’t mean it to criticize anyone, I’m just saying that whenever you don’t have that alignment within the coaching staff and the players, you just will deal with dysfunction. I think that’s a common issue when you have that."
Patricia's fractured relationships with several of his players -- several of his best players, at that -- was a big reason why he failed in Detroit. A big reason why his defenses didn't deliver, a big reason why he was fired in November with 13 wins in 43 games. With the Lions in the early stages of the search for Patricia's replacement, Okudah is hopeful they'll hire a coach who makes connecting with his players a priority.
"When you have a coach like that, where the players feel like this guy’s in war with us all the time and we’re in this together, I think that you have a team that is willing to play for each other no matter the circumstances," Okudah said. "I think that just getting everyone on the same page, same goal, would pay us great dividends going forward."
So would this: getting the third overall pick to fulfill his potential. Right now, that means getting healthy. Okudah said he's been "moving better" in recent days -- his surgery was performed Dec. 15 -- and that he "definitely" expects to be a full participant in the Lions' offseason program. He acknowledged the hamstring injury, in particular, took a toll on his play season. He also acknowledged his game needs work.
"Moving laterally was fine, but opening up and running top speed, kind of hampered a little bit from doing that," Okudah said. "The main point was just not wanting to make excuses, so whatever issues I was having as far as receivers being able to create explosive plays, I need to first and foremost go back and look at the film and see what I could do from a technical standpoint. Once you address that, I think you just go from there."
When interim head coach Darrell Bevell took over for Patricia, one of his main points of emphasis was improving the mood in the building. He wanted the players to enjoy coming to work. By then, Okudah was headed for injured reserve, so Bevell only had so much to say about the 'dysfunction' the rookie may have experienced under Patricia.
“When I first took over that first day, that was my kind of spiel to the team, was the perspective and (how) I was going to try to change the perspective," Bevell said. "A guy like Jeff who obviously went on IR and I wasn’t able to have the same impact on him, he’s looking at it only through his lens.
"Again, I would love to have a conversation with him, I’d love to get to talk to him, I’d love to get to work with him. I’ve had a few (conversations), but like I said, he was basically gone once I took over. That’s his perspective. I would love to be able to help him work through that.”