After watching his introductory press conference, it’s easy to see how the Detroit Lions fell in love with Terrion Arnold.
Detroit Lions first-round pick Terrion Arnold knows the risk involved in the NFL Draft—particularly when a team opts to trade up. The Lions—who used their third-round pick to move from 29 to 24 and draft him—are expecting big things. He’s using that as motivation to succeed at the next level.
“I don’t take that lightly,” Arnold said. “It’s a sacrifice that they made, and I feel like I’m going to reward them for that.”
Surrounded by his family sitting aside the podium, Arnold was a perfect blend of humble, grateful, and confident in his introductory press conference in Allen Park. He expressed hyped up his own ability, but also admitted several times that there is plenty of work he still needs to put in and lessons to be learned.
“At the end of the day, we’re young players,” Arnold said. “My ceiling is very high. Just the teaching, showing up every day with the willingness to work, putting in overtime, you’ll get success. Because in this game, they say football reveals character.”
One easy way to see how Arnold’s character fits right in with Detroit is to see the players he has already surrounded himself with. He’s obviously already got a close relationship with Brian Branch—whom he called a “workaholic—from the 2022 season at Alabama. And in his first day ever at the Lions facility as a member of the team, Arnold was already talking to Amon-Ra St. Brown about getting some extra work in.
“I saw St. Brown today and I just asked him, ‘When can we get on the JUGS machine?’” Arnold said. “Just because I feel like I’m a workaholic. I know that nothing’s gonna be given to me. Even with them trading up to get me…it’s that much more to me. It means more to me.”
Arnold does differ from St. Brown in one way, however. The chips on their respective shoulders come from differing sources. While St. Brown will always remember the receivers drafted before him in 2021, Arnold only had nice things to say about the one cornerback taken before him (Quinyon Mitchell). Instead, Arnold’s fire is fueled by a 2022 Alabama game against Tennessee, in which he was benched.
“I called it my Michael Jordan moment that’s gonna drive me to that gold jacket,” Arnold said.
He also seems like an ideal pair with Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Arnold described a moment in which the two vibed during his pre-draft meeting in Detroit.
“When I first came here, he said that he saw something in me,” Arnold recalled. “And I was like, ‘Coach, you probably see that dog.’ So then after that formulating a relationship with him, and being around him I can tell that he wasn’t a pretender. A lot of times, real recognize real.”
Like any rookie, Arnold will have to work his way into the starting lineup. With Detroit’s revamped cornerback room that includes starting-capable players like Carlton Davis, Amik Robertson, and Emmanuel Moseley, it won’t be an easy task for Arnold. But given the work ethic he appears to have, and the ball-hawking ability he flashed at Alabama, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him walk in and win that job before Week 1 is here.
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