Ohio State's Jeff Okudah was easily the top-ranked cornerback in the Class of 2020, with the CBS Big Board slotting him as the No. 4 overall player. On Thursday, Okudah was picked third in Round 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions – which was largely expected.
Okudah had entered the night with an Over-Under draft position of 4.5 at William Hill sportsbook, with the Over a -180 favorite and the Under at +140 (thus Under wins). The Lions were the -120 favorites on the "which team will draft Jeff Okudah" prop.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder led the Buckeyes with 3 interceptions and 9 pass breakups as a junior in earning unanimous first-team All-American honors. Okudah also had the best broad jump (135.0 inches) and tied for best vertical (41.0 inches) among corners at this year's combine.
Okudah is the fourth cornerback to be selected in the first three picks of an NFL Draft in the common draft era. He is the fifth cornerback from Ohio State overall selected in the first round in the last five years. No other school has had even two cornerbacks selected in the first round in that span. Since 1999, Ohio State has had 13 defensive back chosen in Round 1, most in the NFL.
A defensive back (from any school) has been now selected with a Top-10 pick in four of the past five drafts. Ohio State's Denzel Ward going No. 4 to Cleveland in 2018 had been the highest-drafted defensive back overall since 1998 before Okudah.
Last year, a defensive back wasn't picked until No. 21 overall by the Green Bay Packers and that was safety Darnell Savage. The only first-round cornerback was DeAndre Baker at No. 30 to Georgia.
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