Alabama CB Terrion Arnold looks like everything the Detroit Lions were searching for.
The Lions went 12-5 and reached the NFC Championship Game – where they led by 17 points at halftime – last season, despite some of the worst cornerback play in the National Football League.
After trading for veteran Carlton Davis and signing Amik Robertson as a free agent earlier in the offseason, Detroit continued its overhaul of the position by trading up to draft Alabama standout Arnold with the No. 24 overall pick. The Lions were originally at No. 29, but swapped places with the Dallas Cowboys by giving up that pick as well as a third-rounder (No. 73) to move up five spots. Detroit received a 2025 seventh-round pick in the bargain.
While there’s no such thing as perfect, Arnold checks all of the Lions’ boxes.
“Arnold offers an ideal blend of cover athleticism and competitive makeup, with the ball skills to make plays at every level of the field,” Dane Brugler wrote in his annual NFL Draft Guide for The Athletic. “He is scheme-versatile and has the talent to work inside or outside. He can be an NFL team’s No. 1 cornerback, offering a skill set similar to that of the Chicago Bears’ Jaylon Johnson.”
A big part of Arnold’s competitive makeup is his ability to tackle and his considerable desire to do it.
And a big part of the atmosphere that Lions coach Dan Campbell has created within his team is toughness and the appetite for hard physical contact.
And when it comes to quality cornerbacks, the NFC North is no place to be short on that commodity.
This coming season, the Lions will have six combined games against the Green Bay Packers Jordan Love and his outstanding young receiving corps, Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings (unstoppable no matter who is throwing him the ball) and the steadily improving Chicago Bears. The Bears already had D.J. Moore on roster before adding WR Keenan Allen in an offseason trade and drafting wide receiver Rome Adunze out of Washington with the No. 9 overall pick on Thursday, to go along with an expected selection of quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick.