Terrion Arnold Believes Lions Have 'Rare' NFL Secondary

Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold believes his experience will be an asset as he begins his second NFL season.

Arnold started 15 games last season as a rookie, and while he had his ups and downs, he showed flashes near the end of the year of the player the Lions hope he can be in their secondary.

The Alabama product is slotted in as a starter, opposite of free agent signing D.J. Reed. With two All-Pro caliber safeties in Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. There are elevated expectations for the group, and Arnold believes there is a rare dynamic at play with how well the group has come together so early.

"The standard for us is to get the ball back to the offense. When you can go out there and force turnovers and force takeaways, it's game-changing plays," Arnold explained. "On top of that, we're all young and we all have had a chance to get a year of camaraderie under our belts. That's very, very rare in the NFL. Just seeing the same guys you were lined up with, outside of we replaced Carlton (Davis) with D.J., but he's came in and fell right into place. When you have a group of guys that can gel together, hang out together and we do extracirricular activities together, just the brotherhood is stronger than ever. When you're able to go out there and have trust that your guy is gonna be in the right spot, or he can trust me to make this play, it just makes football a lot easier."

One area Arnold has his sights set on improving is with his ball production. After leading the SEC in interceptions during his final year at Alabama, he did not have an interception in his rookie year in Detroit.

While going without one did give him some anguish last year, he anticipates that getting his first will lead to more.

"Yeah, it's coming though," Arnold said. "Once you get one, they just start coming."

This lack of interceptions led him to increased film study in the offseason. While he dissected plays he could've made, he noted that chasing perfection comes with difficulties.

"I just watched tape every day, thinking about the plays that I could've made," the second-year cornerback explained. "I'm one of those guys, I want to be a perfectionist. If you chase perfection, you're gonna fall short of it."

Nothing to prove

This year's Lions team is fully motivated by the inability to finish over the past two seasons. With back-to-back years ending in crushing playoff losses, the players understand that an extra level of urgency is required to accomplish such lofty goals.

Arnold epitomizes this, as his personal goals are rooted in finding success for the team. His determination lies in finding the best ways to contribute to the team emerging victorious.

"I don't feel like I have nothing to prove to anybody. I'm really just trying to get better every day. I feel like I want to go out there and do whatever it takes for the team to win," Arnold said. "Whether that's running down on kickoff, running down on punt, whatever coach and my teammates need me to do. And as far as personal goals, I think about one all day, every day and that's winning the Super Bowl. I'm gonna do whatever this team needs me to do to try to attain that."

Urgency and hunger are two main themes within the early stages of this year's training camp. This comes from the fact that the Lions understand that they stand within a Super Bowl window, so the team feels the need to capitalize while the opportunity is available.

"Most definitely. Detroit, we haven't even been to the Super Bowl game," Arnold explained. "So just as far as getting there, and then having the whole offseason to think about it, you get tired of that feeling. You know you only have a small, small window to attain that. So the window for us, it's open, and we just want to try to attain that before it closes."