As we know Okudah had an up and down season. Looked good early, then got benched, then got banged up. One of the big decisions this offseason is on Okudah’s 5th year team option.
We don’t have much at corner under contract. Hughes, AO and Harris are all free agents. Corner needs a huge upgrade.
What would you do with Okudah’s 5th year option!? It’s worth about $11 million. I’m leaning towards not picking it up.
Hard not to though considering how little overall CB talent we have. Okudah was close to a shut down corner for a good part of the year
also extensions can be made on Jonah Jackson aswell
He’s also been injured in all 3 seasons of his career. 11 mill is pretty expensive and we have to make that decision before he plays year 4. Tough call IMO.
Okudah has played in 25 out of 50 games in his career so far. And he didn’t finish several of those 25 games.
its a rough call rn
we still have 1 more year of him
pretty much a make it or break it year
I know he was injured down the end strech, but he looked good
Yeah but tearing your Achilles takes a year away from any player who has one. He came back fast and better then ever. Almost any player that has that injury in there first couple years will look similar in that aspect.
I think you keep him forsure I think they consider chemistry as very important. I really think they try to keep there good players. And keep building off it
They have until early May to figure this out vis a vis the free agency and draft…if we see 1 CB out of both, he is getting picked up. 2? Still possible.
But if we bring in starting CB in FA and a top 2 rd pick and some depth?
Probly no
Yeah i say pay the man. I expect him to be better next year due to him getting more experience this year and being another year past the injury. Plus he is an ultra high character guy.
And the cap will be 260mil the year we pay him 11mil
You pick it up.
Good point, free agency and the draft happens first, didn’t realize that. They can wait and see how they address corner before making that call on Okudah in May.
One thing is for sure, we need corners. Jacobs and Okudah I believe are the only 2 under contract for 2023.
Im picking it up all day long. He had some huge games middle of the year a year removed from an Acl. I suspect his decline in play was related to health.
I have not given up on Okudah
Me too, but that is also my concern.
We went over this in another thread. Picking it up is a no brainer IMO. The 5th year option is not guaranteed anymore, its just a team option year. We can pick it up and still get rid of him if we want to. It just gives us options if he plays well in 2023.
Also, the money itself isn’t a factor. I assume people don’t know how much Okudah is already making. This year he played for around a $9.2M cap hit. Next year he will be playing for around a $10.7M cap hit. His 5th year option is going to be around $11.25M. If $11.25M is too much then we should cut him now, because that’s basically what he is going to be making next year.
Interesting, I didn’t know that. Thought it was fully guaranteed 5th year option. That changes things for sure then. So why in the world didn’t the Raiders pick up Josh Jacobs 5th year option then!?
This will be interesting. I’d love to know why he rode the pine… Was it injury or his head space? Either way, that is probably not the long term that the Lions want.
I expect the Lions to draft minimum of 2 CBs this year. Holmes knows he can get very good value late in the draft and he’d love to get 2-3 guys and maybe a priority UDFA to compete for 2 spots.
I think it’s a totally fair question to ask at this point but I am picking it up.
No.
If it wasn’t for his dead cap, I would consider releasing him now. He isn’t worth the $11M he’ll get in '23.
Let him play out his 4th year. They can always re-sign him.
You pick it up and turn him loose ala Ebron if he doesn’t produce in 2023
I also believe it is guaranteed at the moment a team picks it up. That’s the whole point.
I don’t think it is as cut and dry as I thought it was 4 weeks ago, but I agree. The staff will know exactly why Okudah’s play started to slip. It it was fatigue due to coming off that achilles and not ever playign in this many games than that is reasonable.