Terrion Arnold is Embracing His Burden
The cornerback was chosen with the most consequential draft pick in Detroit Lions history, and he seems up to the challenge
Being the first overall pick in the NFL Draft is what every prospect dreams of, but it’s hard to imagine any draftee having a more memorable experience than Terrion Arnold did Thursday night.
He was a member of the small group of players selected to sit in the NFL Draft greenroom this year. Waiting backstage as not just him, but his entire positional group, slid down the board. Then finally, his phone rang with the Detroit Lions' brass on the other end. The crowd erupted, as the screens that surrounded Cadillac Square suddenly switched from the Dallas Cowboys’ navy to the hometown team’s Honolulu blue.
The more than 275,000 fans waited with bated breath as Roger Goodell walked to the podium flanked by local flag football players. After a less-than-eloquent introduction, he handed the spotlight to local high schooler Ellie Fragile, who announced a trade and subsequent selection of Arnold, the cornerback out of Alabama.
The crowd went wild. Arnold celebrated with his family in a custom salmon suit that carried pieces of his football career so far. On his right side, the interior lining of his jacket had a printed photo of himself during his youth football career, and a photo of him and his family during his 2021 signing day — where he chose the Crimson Tide. On his left, LANK — “Let a Naysayer Know”, Alabama’s team motto — with his number 3 printed beneath.
Rumbling roars of the crowd became more defined as he approached the stage. Now donning a Lions hat, he met with Goodell, posed for a ceremonial picture, and took in the moment. Hundreds-of-thousands of fans. So many the NFL had to shut down entrances to the event. Some people arrived early in the morning to secure a prime spot to be here for this moment. After three hours of watching other teams have their time in the spotlight, the glimmer of hope that everyone has on draft night, visions of hope and future Super Bowls, it was the Lions’ turn.
When approached by an ESPN reporter on stage, Arnold took the mic for himself.
“Detroit. Y’all got a star, man. I’m home. I’m home,” he said, looking over a mob that spanned the city’s entire downtown.
“Imma help ‘em win a Super Bowl,” he said when asked what he would do for the fans. “It’s amazing man. We’re gonna go crazy.”
Arnold would spend some time hyping up the crowd. Departing from the stage to take selfies with fans in the front row — the ones who had waited the longest to see this moment A true man of the people with an army of nearly 300,000 willing to follow him. Some would joke on social media that he could likely lead them into war against Toledo if wanted to. The entire city, and fans from across the world, were captured by him.
This is the scene the NFL dreamt of when they moved the draft out of New York City and into an annual traveling circus. Lions fans are the perfect crowd. A hungry fanbase — ravenous, almost — after coming so close to making the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 2023. A team that felt like it just needed one more piece to finally do what always felt impossible. And now Arnold has been cast into that role. The savior of a city, a fanbase, a community. In an instant, his life changed, not only because he had finally realized his dream of making it to the NFL, but because of the burden he now bears. He is, quite literally, the chosen one for this franchise.
“When I walked out there on that stage, I could feel it. I could feel the energy,” he said in an interview immediately after being selected.
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Brad Holmes was befuddled when he came to the podium. The Lions general manager could not believe his luck. The top cornerback on his board — one of the best players in the draft at his team’s biggest position of need — slipped into the mid-20s. The Lions paid a hefty price to jump from 29 to 24, but they couldn’t afford to lose a player like Arnold. With cornerback needy teams such as the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in wait, Holmes had to take his chance.
“I didn’t think he was gonna be there…I never thought he would be there,” Holmes told reporters in his post draft presser.
The Alabama corner was the top corner on many draft boards. In a draft where analysts expected not to see many defensive players in the early stages of the first round, he was still talented enough to earn top 10 consideration. He’s physical. He’s a playmaker. He works hard and plays with effort. A favorite of the Saban family in Tuscaloosa.
And most importantly, “he’s gritty,” Holmes added.
This year’s edition of the NFL Draft was an unprecedented affair. The first 14 picks were on offense. Six of the first 12 picks, including all of the top 3, were quarterbacks. The Atlanta Falcons drafted quarterback Michael Penix at eight despite signing Kirk Cousins earlier in the offseason. It was a night filled with twists and turns, and while the teams deprived on offense rushed to add talent early on, teams like the Lions at the back of the draft benefitted.
More than 20 picks went by before a single cornerback was selected. The talented class was entirely shut out of the first few hours of the spectacle in downtown Detroit.
At pick 22, the Philadelphia Eagles broke the dam, selecting Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell. Then the Lions were put in an interesting spot. There were six picks between themselves and the Eagles. Realistically, five of those teams could take a corner. Five opportunities to lose out on getting your guy. A player defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said he hoped he would get a chance to coach.
Just the Dallas Cowboys, a team with a wealth of talent at corner but struggling on offense, would be willing to make a deal. The Lions sent a third round pick to jump four spots — the Jacksonville Jaguars fortunately passed on taking a corner — and moved up to 24.
There has already been criticism of the price Detroit paid to make the move. But what some of the criticism might be missing is that football players are not mix-and-match, plug-and-play. If Detroit had stood pat at 29 they would have likely missed out on their guy.
Sure, Cooper DeJean and Kool-Aid McKinstry would have both still been available — both players slipped out of the first round — but they aren’t Arnold. They aren’t the Lions’ guy. They weren’t “him” — as Arnold described himself to Glenn during the draft process in a story he recalled with Lions media.
Holmes told reporters after the draft that he thought he would have to trade into the teens for Arnold.
“We didn’t know defenders would get pushed [that low in the draft],” he said about the wealth of options available later on in the first round. “Especially a guy like Terrion. But we couldn’t be more ecstatic or thrilled how it went.”
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Nick Saban, the legendary Crimson Tide head coach who joined ESPN this offseason, was getting emotional on the desk when Arnold had his name called. Saban recruited the four star kid out of Tallahassee, Florida, to Tuscaloosa in 2021. After a redshirt year, he inserted him into the starting lineup.
Arnold not only became a great player on the field for Saban, but a member of his family. The young corner developed an intense bond with his coach’s family, including Nick’s wife, Terry.
“She’s almost like a second mom,” Arnold said of Saban’s wife last season. “She really cares about all of us and she does a really good job of displaying that. Honestly, Coach Saban and her, they’re the type of people who will give you the shirt off their back.”
“Her and Terrion are really kind of buddies,” Saban said, describing the relationship. “I know she sort of texts with him and all that. I kind of get on him. It’s just kind of like raising your children. I’m the guy that’s always trying to get them to do right, and she’s the momma who’s always trying to make them happy.
Arnold comes off as humble and gracious in interviews and chats with the media. During the Combine, he took a moment in front of the cameras to thank his mother, Tamala.
"I just want to say, Tamala Arnold, I love you. I'm right here, the whole world is watching and I'm blessed to have you as a mom. Like I said, you overcame a lot and with that being said, I'm going to continue to keep shining just like you raised me to be,” he said.
The corner has a “big personality,” as Holmes described it. A jubilant player who always seems to be having a blast. After a successful drill at the NFL Combine, he gathered his fellow prospects to run down the field in celebration and attempt a flip. On the field, he celebrates big plays with a big smile, and just always seems to be having fun out there. Jahmyr Gibbs, also selected by the Lions out of Alabama, plays with similar jubilance.
That personality, and the built-by-Bama swagger Arnold carries, contributed to Holmes’ interest in the 21-year-old. This draft represents the third straight year the Lions spent a first round pick on a player out of Alabama (Jameson Williams, Gibbs).
“Those guys practice hard. They practice intense,” Holmes said of prospects that come out of Alabama. He also cited Iowa — where he selected Jack Campbell and Sam LaPorta out of last year — as a program of similar stature.
Saban is famous for running his Crimson Tide team like a business. Wins are celebrated, and losses are mourned, but not for too long. After 24 hours, it's on to the next task. There is more focus on the day-to-day practices than the end goal of winning a championship. Players are professional and expected to treat playing football the same way an adult would their job.
There is a sense of humility in the way Alabama moves. A team of high character players focused on victory over everything else. A machine that has printed championships under Saban and quickly turned their focus towards winning the next one.
“When you pull kids out of that program.. you know what they’ve been through and know the coaching they’ve already had,” Holmes said of the Crimson Tide.
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Arnold is an incredible football player. His Combine numbers may have turned some off from him — he is just 6’0, 195 lbs and ran a 4.5 40-yard-dash — but he plays faster than he tested.
In February, when discussion options for the Lions at cornerback this offseason, I wrote about Arnold:
Arnold, while also a great athlete, does not have the athletic prowess of his partner [Kool-Aid McKinstry]. He is a much more technically sound player though and may be a better corner week one. Arnold is also a sound tackler and good run defense, which will also win him some points with Glenn.
All of that still stands true. Arnold is not a super-athlete, but he is not lacking. He is the most physical corner in the draft, sometimes almost too physical. A good NFL comparison for him is a slightly smaller Carlton Davis — who the Lions acquired from the Buccaneers earlier this offseason.
With Davis likely to be just a one year rental in Detroit, Arnold is in place to be the long term CB1. He is NFL ready, but playing alongside someone like Davis could help him a lot in his rookie year. Davis and Arnold will be the team’s primary outside corners, with Brian Branch — who was the rookie’s teammate at Alabama — featuring in the slot.
“Already [got] my guy Brian Branch is in the secondary,” Arnold said.
Detroit’s corners were horrible last year. With better corners, they may have won the Super Bowl. Even with the additions of both Davis and Las Vegas Raiders free agent Amik Robertson, more work was needed. The situation became even more dire after Cam Sutton, the crown jewel of the team’s 2023 free agent class, was released after an alleged domestic abuse incident in Florida.
If the Lions had just one more above-average corner last season, the 2024 NFL Draft could have been like Kansas City’s a year earlier. Not about anointing the next savior, but a celebration of the previous year’s triumphs.
“I felt like they had one missing piece. And I feel like I’m that missing piece,” Arnold said Thursday night.