It shouldn’t be an issue for Jeff Okudah.

The Detroit Lions’ first-round pick is a big enough talent and smart enough player that no matter what the rest of the NFL offseason looks like, he should come in and be a Day 1 starter this fall.

“If we don’t have an offseason program, would it take him a couple of weeks? Maybe. You never know,” Lions general manager Bob Quinn said in his post-draft video conference Saturday. “But I think he’s a very mature kid, very smart football-wise. I mean, I’m very confident that even if we do a virtual offseason program for six weeks, he’ll know enough of our defense to be a very capable player very, very early in his rookie season.”

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That won’t be the case for most rookies, though, both with the Lions and across the NFL.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a minimal impact on the NFL compared to some of its professional sports peers so far.

No games have been lost yet, and business has gone on mostly as usual, with last week’s virtual draft a hit among fans and those in the league.

But looking ahead to the rest of the spring, NFL teams are about to feel the pinch practice-wise. Offseason programs, for most teams that have opted to conduct them, go virtual this week, and no one stands to be more affected by the change than rookies looking to latch on with their new teams.

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“Obviously, the draft picks are going to get an awesome chance to come in and make the team, and we’ll have our normal training camp, hopefully, if not more,” Quinn said. “The rookie free agents, they’re going to get the same exact opportunity. They’re going to come in, they’re going to hit the ground running and they’re going to have every chance to make our team and show us what they can do.

"So those guys that are hungry for NFL spots, it’s really up to them.”

Quinn said Lions coach Matt Patricia and his staff will work this week to figure out how best to handle the logistics of a rookie orientation program that almost certainly will be completely virtual.

Teams are expected to be able to host virtual rookie minicamps May 8-10, and rookies will be allowed to participate in the rest of the offseason program, whatever it looks like. But replicating the work they usually would be doing on the field won’t be easy.

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Typically, rookies see an increase in reps in the spring because teams limit what veterans do on the field during organized team activities and mandatory minicamp. That gives late-round picks and rookie free agents a chance to make a lasting impression, and it helps rookies of all ilk learn their new team and scheme.

“I think it’s a big challenge,” Lions seventh-round pick Jashon Cornell said of shortening the typical rookie learning curve this offseason. “Being at Ohio State, you learn a different mentality about how bad do you really want to play football? How (strong) is your work ethic? That’s one thing I take to heart each and every day. I grind six days a week.”

Cornell, who’ll vie for a backup role on the Lions’ defensive line this fall, built a pseudo outdoor training facility in the backyard of his Minnesota home that he said he’ll use to help get ready for the season.

“So I had a bench and a rack from high school, and we had it in our basement and I wanted it to be outside and in the shed,” he said. “So I cleared the shed out and moved all the lawn mowers and bikes to the garage and pretty much carried everything out and built my own little mini-gym.

"Put some turf inside of it and put some racks and bench and stuff in there, my dumbbells, and got it going.”

Cornell said he bought a set of dumbbells and some resistance bands from Amazon to help him get more work in during quarantine, and his backyard has enough room for him to do defensive line drills.

“You can always run outside, you can always bike, especially with the weather being nice out now,” he said. “It’s how bad do you want to compete and how bad you’re going to make it to the next level? That’s one thing I’ve been doing, try to compete each and every day with myself.”

The previous occasion the NFL had a truncated offseason, during the lockout of 2011, it had a distinct impact on young players across the league.

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Top rookies, as Quinn predicted will be the case with Okudah, showed little trouble adapting to the NFL. Von Miller had 11.5 sacks and won Defensive Rookie of the Year. Patrick Peterson, who plays the same cornerback position as Okudah, had two interceptions on defense and returned four punts for touchdowns while starting all 16 games. A.J. Green topped 1,000 yards receiving, and DeMarco Murray nearly reached that milestone rushing.

Locally, though, things didn’t go quite as well.

First-round pick Nick Fairley suffered a foot injury in August and missed six games. Second-round pick Mikel Leshoure tore his Achilles tendon in training camp and was out for the season. Neither of the Lions’ late-round picks, Doug Hogue or Johnny Culbreath, made an impact (or lasted long in the NFL).

And the only undrafted rookie that made the initial 53-man roster was punter Ryan Donahue.

On the bright side, the Lions did win 10 games that season to make the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.

“We’re not going to put the cart before the horse and just say this (rookie’s) going to start or this guy’s going to do that,” Quinn said. “Let’s just kind of take it day-by-day, week-by-week in the offseason and see what we’re dealing with from a world perspective before we start anointing anybody to their positions on the team. …

"I want to see these guys in person first, I want to shake their hand, I want to have them sign their contracts and I want to get on the practice field. So if we can take baby steps, that would be great for me.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.