If you are a big fan of Jeff Okudah, you knew that day was coming. The Detroit Lions second-year cornerback has made it pretty obvious that he wants to go through a shirt number change from his debut season, in which he sported the number 30. Well, it looks like this is going to happen very soon.
As Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon first pointed out, Detroit Lions appear to be selling a Jeff Okudah shirt with the number 23 on it.
Although this change in number has not yet been confirmed by the team – its number remains 30 on the Lions official website – there are many reasons to believe that this will be Okudah’s new number. On the one hand, team president Rod Wood said earlier this week that Okudah was at Lions facilities throughout the off-season, suggesting that he is in constant contact with the team.
“He is on a regular basis and I think he is excited about the new coaching staff, as well as several other players as well,” said Wood.
Furthermore, we know that Okudah had contacted Darius Slay before he was called up and the two have, at the very least, a friendly relationship. Perhaps it is no coincidence, then, that Okudah and Slay started with the number 30 before making the transition to the number 23.
But if you get an itchy trigger finger this Easter Sunday, a word of warning before you buy your next Lions t-shirt for the next five years. The Kansas City Chiefs proposed a rule change this year, that would give cornerbacks – who currently only use numbers between 20 and 49 – the opportunity to use numbers between 1 and 19. Okudah was number 1 in college and high school. Also, don’t forget that Lions can make some uniform changes as early as next year.