The Detroit Lions made a huge jump last season as they won the NFC North title and won two postseason games before falling short in the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Lions made progress in multiple areas on both offense and defense, but the belief was that they had to make an upgrade in the secondary. They drafted cornerback Terrion Arnold from Alabama in the first round of the recently completed draft to help them facilitate that improvement.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell have quite a bit of confidence in Arnold, and that was proven because Detroit traded up to get him. However, they won’t know how good he is or what kind of contribution he will make until he starts playing competitively in the preseason and then once the 2024 season kicks off.
However, they can be sure that they are getting a player with maximum competitiveness. He is not the kind of player who would give anyone a break — including his own mother.
“I’ll never forget one time my mom kicked my tooth out because we was just going at it so hard, so if my mom was out here right now and she lined up across me as a receiver, I would jam her into the dirt,” Arnold said. “That’s my mindset, and my mom knows that right now. I just mean it in the simple aspect of like football-wise, that’s just the way that I think and the way that I was brought up.”
Lions were vulnerable on pass defense last year, but Arnold has skills
The Lions ranked 18th in overall defense in 2023, and that was a huge improvement from the 2022 season when they ranked 32nd. However, they had their biggest problem defending the pass. The Lions ranked 27th in passing yards allowed, and if they are going to defend their NFC North title, they are going to have to do much better at pass coverage.
That’s clearly one of the reasons they made Arnold their No. 1 pick. He had 5 interceptions, 12 passes defensed, 63 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 1 forced fumble for the Crimson Tide last year.
The Lions attempted to turn the cornerback position from a weakness into a strength as they also drafted Ennis Rakestraw in the second round. Assistant general manager Ray Agnew said both draft choices are going to have to earn their positions during offseason activities and the preseason.
“I’m sure Rakestraw thinks he’s better and Terrion thinks he’s better so they’re going to compete, which is a great thing for us. We want competitiveness,” Agnew said. “We don’t want guys that bow down to people and we want guys to compete and think they’re going to win the spot. I think both of those guys think they will start, and they’ve got their work cut out for them.”
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