Jeff Okudah said it himself. The Detroit Lions cornerback was living in a nightmare following his ruptured Achilles in the very first week of the 2021 NFL season.

After underwhelming in his rookie campaign the previous year, Okudah was raring to show Lions fans and doubters alike that he was worth the top three overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft. Instead, he'd face another setback that would sideline him for the rest of the year.

The Lions youngster sought advice from a veteran player who went through a similar ordeal – but it wasn't anyone wearing pads and a helmet. He reached out to 5-time NBA All-Star John Wall, who tore his Achilles in December of 2018 and has since been battling his way back to the court. Given the type of physically gifted specimen that Wall was pre-injury, Okudah saw someone he hoped could give guidance in coming back to form as an explosive athlete hampered by a serious leg injury.

Via ESPN:

“‘Don’t rush yourself back,” was at the heart of Wall's message to Okudah.

Wall, who this offseason signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, harped on the mental aspect of things as well as the physical, warning the Lions third-year man to know his limits and stay patient amid the grueling process.

“I said, ‘Bro, just attack it the best way you can. You’re gonna have high days, you’re gonna have low days because that injury takes damn near a year or year and a half to really get back to where you want to be at,’” Wall told ESPN. “You might think you’re there, but physically, you’re not there. The doctors might clear you, but you’ve got to be clear with yourself 100%, and I said, ‘Don’t rush yourself back.’”

“I said, I know you’re young, you want to play, and people say you heal fast when you’re younger, but take your time because this is something you don’t want to reinjure or overcompensate to mess anything else up.”

Jeff Okudah is now slated to start the season at full strength on a Detroit Lions team that's hungry to prove that they're better than what everyone thinks of them. That's the exact energy Okudah's likely to come into the year with after fully recovering from his injury.