Jeff Okudah is by all accounts, a bust. He was taken third overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2020 NFL Draft. He flopped hard. He was the final death nail in the coffin for then-Lions head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn. Injured and inefficient, he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in 2023 for just a fifth-round pick.
He failed to impress and his contract was allowed to expire. The Houston Texans, in need of cornerback help, picked him up as a bit of an experiment. He wasn't signed with the idea that he'd be a key part of the defense, with the success of the squad reliant on his play. He was picked up as a project of sorts. The kind of player you cut just before the start of the season if he's not panning out.
He's not a franchise guy and wasn't signed to be one. If he developed as a player and got better at his assignments, then he'd likely get a new deal with Houston or would be part of a bidding war come free agency in 2025. Yet, after failing to stay healthy and live up to his lofty draft position, his time in the NFL is likely coming to an end.
If he doesn't make it in Houston, he's done. He's lacking something that the better NFL players have, and if he can't prove that he can harness that missing ingredient, he won't make the final roster. He's been, for lack of a better phrase, a bad football player since he was drafted.
That hasn't changed this offseason. During the mini camps and OTA's that the Texans held so far, Okudah is someone that the Battle Red Blog believes has falling stock. They wrote recently;
"Stock Down: Jeff Okudah
We all hoped head coach DeMeco Ryans could rub magic pixie dust on the washed up veteran and he would learn to fly again. However based on limited film and notes coming out of training camp, Okudah was getting dusted across the board. Most notably, John Metchie III put Okudah in his rearview on this play."
Listen, if Okudah is already looking this bad playing mostly against second and third-string receivers, many of whom aren't likely to make the team, then there's no point in waiting for training camp to see anything more from him. A lot of people thought this signing was the big one. He'd find his legs in Houston and become the mega-star that he was always supposed to be.
That rarely happens three teams in. It rarely happens when you have a third-round pick who changes teams just once due to poor play. Let alone twice. Okudah is just taking up a roster spot right now and unless something magically changes, we'd be surprised if he survived the first round of cuts at this rate.