The Vikings agreed to terms with 2020 first-round pick Jeff Okudah, the team announced Tuesday.
The 26-year-old most recently played six games for the Texans in 2024, contributing both on defense and special teams. Okuda played 13 games (nine starts) for the Falcons in 2023, recording 44 tackles, one tackle for loss and a pass defensed.
Detroit initially drafted Okudah No. 3 overall in 2020, but the corner was hindered by injuries early on. He landed on Injured Reserve nine games into his rookie season and then again in September 2021 after the Lions season opener.
Okudah joins a Vikings cornerbacks room that recently re-signed Byron Murphy, Jr., and added former Eagles CB Isaiah Rodgers.
Here are five things to know about the Vikings new corner:
1. Ohio State standout
Okudah played collegiately at Ohio State, where as a true freshman in 2017 he appeared in all 14 games. He played in 13 games for the Buckeyes as a sophomore and totaled 32 tackles, then broke out the following season with 34 tackles, three interceptions and nine passes defensed. Okudah’s first interception occurred against the Miami RedHawks. He was unanimously named to the 2019 College Football All-America Team and also was announced a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.
Okudah declared for the 2020 NFL Draft and did not play his senior season at Ohio State
2. Hails from Texas
A Texas native, Okudah grew up in Grand Prairie, a Dallas suburb, and attended South Grand Prairie High School. He impressed early on the gridiron, and as a senior in 2016, he helped lead the team to the Texas Class 6A State Playoffs. Okudah that season logged 43 tackles and five passes defensed, as well as 795 scrimmage yards on offense.
He was named Second-Team Class 6A All-State as a senior by The Associated Press and also was a U.S. Army All American.
3. Son of Nigerian immigrants
Okudah is proud of his Nigerian heritage, which he’s said had a significant influence on his life growing up.
As a shining high school student in 2015, Okudah spoke with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and opined that his maturity came “from my family’s background coming from an African ethnicity.”
“That’s one of the things they focus on, just presenting yourself well because we have to [present ourselves well] in front of other people,” a young Okudah explained. “Everything is based around school and how you can honor your family’s name. That means a lot to me. Not many people have the last name Okudah.”
4. Inspired by late mother
Okudah has paid tribute in multiple ways to his mother, who passed away in 2017 after a hard-fought battle with lymphoma.
Three years after her passing and ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, Okudah wrote a letter to her via The Players’ Tribune. In the heartfelt note, he reflected on navigating her death as a freshman at Ohio State and the coaches and friends who supported him.
I hope knowing that makes you smile a little, Mom — just knowing that we really did end up choosing the right school. It’s probably not very often that someone can know they picked the right college to go to after only a week of being there….. but for me that’s what it was like with Ohio State. […] It felt like the entire school was there for me — checking on me, rallying around me, sharing in my pain.
Okudah shared his college journey through the eyes of his mom and thanked family members who also had helped prepared him for taking steps to the NFL.
I’m sure teams will ask me about you.
*They’ll ask me about my upbringing. They’ll ask me about my mom, Marie, who passed away. They’ll try to figure me out, by trying to figure you out. And honestly, I can’t wait.
Because I’ll just tell them the truth.
I’ll tell them that we never had the most money, in terms of our financial situation. And that we didn’t have the most time, in terms of our years we got to spend together. But we had the most love — that’s for sure. We had more love than anyone could ever imagine.*
