Okudah spent the offseason rehabbing at the Lions training facility

In Detroit Lions’ Jeff Okudah’s final year at Ohio State, he injured his groin. With the grind of that season in Columbus, the college football playoffs, NFL draft preparation, and his rookie season in the NFL, there wasn’t sufficient time for his injury to heal. And like most lingering injuries, when they don’t heal properly, they often lead to other injuries, as we saw with Okudah in 2020.

Eventually, the cumulative impact on his body took its toll and Okudah landed on injured reserve in early December, with surgery following soon after. Instead of heading home this offseason, Okudah spent the last several months in Michigan, leaning on the Lions Staff to help him in his rehabilitation.

When he spoke to the Lions media on Thursday, he assured that he was nearly back to full health and praised the Lions medical staff.

“I’m feeling great,” Okudah said. “I’m definitely trending towards 100 (percent). I think that’s a testament to the staff that the Detroit Lions have. Me and Tom Colt (Coordinator of Rehabilitation/Assistant Athletic Trainer) we have put in a lot of work—Dave Granito (Head Athletic Trainer)—this offseason. Every single day, just getting after it. And I’m definitely thankful that I was able to stay and get a chance to work with them.”

Okudah would go on to elaborate that he is doing “everything” in his workouts and is not limited in his training.

“It just feels like I have a different level,” Okudah expanded on what he felt like to finally be healthy. “(One) that I wasn’t able to tap into last year. But I feel like this year, just moving around and not having pain in my groin anymore, it just feels like a different level.”

Okudah’s time in Allen Park hasn’t only been limited to rehabilitation as he has already begun interactions with the new coaching staff and is “seeing the game completely different”.

Now at full health, as well as getting the opportunity to learn under defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant, things are lining up well for Okudah to have a successful sophomore NFL season.