Terrion Arnold's first NFL season was baptism by fire, and he was burned a few times as a result. But the 21-year-old corner still wants the smoke.
"I feel like coming into this role, it was a lot, and I got better as the season went on, started to find myself. It’s one of those things where I’m really looking forward to next year," Arnold said the day after the Lions' season came abruptly to a close. "Looking forward to playing again, that’s all I think about. When I woke up this morning, I said, 'I can’t believe it’s over.'
"But the only way to ease the pain and this type of heartache is to get back to the drawing board and get to work."
In Aaron Glenn's aggressive defense, Arnold played more snaps in man coverage (307) than any cornerback in the NFL -- and nearly 100 more than any other rookie corner. Just how aggressive was that defense? Carlton Davis III missed four of the Lions' final six games and still logged the seventh most man coverage snaps in the NFL.
And while Arnold was sometimes exposed -- and was especially vulnerable to pass interference penalties early in the season -- he mostly held his own. He allowed a passer rating in man coverage of 75.8, per Pro Football Focus, which ranked 10th among corners who played at least 150 man-cover snaps. The Lions, and Arnold, were hoping for more ball production to go with it, but his ability to survive on an island is essentially why they drafted him 24th overall last spring.
"It was nothing but experience," Arnold said of his rookie season. "Like I always said, a lot of teams sit back and play zone. I had to go out there and challenge wide receiver 1’s, and I’m young. So I know, I’ll be the best corner in the league pretty soon. Very confident."
Arnold credited Glenn, Dan Campbell and defensive backs coaches DeShea Townsend and Jim O'Neil for guiding him along the way: "They taught me how to deal with adversity."
"Even at the beginning of the season, just the PI’s, it wasn’t a matter of I was beat. It was a matter of just turning your head, locating the ball, and those are things that you can fix. It was never a talent thing as far as lining up against somebody who was better than me. It was just things from inexperience and not seeing it. The only way to get better and gain experience is by being out there," Arnold said.
Arnold's performance, at least by the numbers, was much less encouraging in zone coverage, where he surrendered completions on 80 percent of targets and a passer rating of 138.0. The latter was the second worst mark in the NFL.
His overall coverage grade, per PFF, ranked 73rd out of 78 qualified corners. He failed to produce a pick.
Arnold did not play well in the Lions' divisional round loss to the Commanders. He allowed completions on four of five targets in coverage, including a 38-yarder to Dyami Brown on which he was beat down the field. He was also guilty of a mental error on a critical fourth down late in the third quarter when he abandoned his duty on the perimeter and allowed Jayden Daniels to gain the edge for a first down. The Commanders were in the end zone a few plays later with a 10-point lead.
"We beat ourselves," Arnold said. "They did nothing special. It’s one of those things where you look in the mirror and say, ‘OK, we play them today, we come out victorious.’ They came out yesterday and had more energy than us. Seeing them celebrate when they knew they had won the game over there on the sidelines and then just hearing them in the locker room next door, that’s all the motivation you need going into next year."
Arnold will likely be playing under a new defensive coordinator next season with Glenn destined for a head coaching job, with either the Saints or the Jets. Arnold learned a lot from Glenn, a former Pro Bowl corner himself. The lesson that sticks out, said Arnold, "just as far as being a competitor, his main point to us -- day in and day out, night in and night out -- was just, challenge."
"The guy really taught me how to be a smart football player and how to be a pro, the ins and outs of it. I’m very grateful I got to have somebody like that," Arnold said.
As much as he would like Glenn to stay, Arnold appreciates that "the NFL is a business." And "in this business, you gotta do what's best for you." If Glenn indeed takes a head coaching job elsewhere, Arnold wishes him "nothing but the best."
"But I told him, if you take the job somewhere else and we play against you, we’re gonna beat y’all," Arnold grinned.
For now, Arnold is just ready to get some rest. After starting combine training immediately following his final season at Alabama and then stepping into the NFL and playing 17 games, he's had his foot on the gas for 18 straight months.
"So take a couple weeks to get a break and then I’m right back to it, man," he said.
He added, "My message is not, ‘We gotta be back. But, we will be back.'"