A few nights before the first Sunday of the season, Terrion Arnold fell asleep on his couch while watching film, iPad propped up on his stomach. When he woke up a short while later, the film was still rolling, so Arnold kept watching: "It's literally become that fun to me," he said. "I almost treat it like a video game."
"In a video game, you do the training, then you go and play in the game. For me, the film is essentially the training. That Sunday is the game, and just trust what I see," he said.
Arnold has always been a self-described "football junkie." As a kid, he watched highlights of Tyrann Mathieu and Tavon Austin before games. Now, 22, he dissects film like a coach. Arnold didn't go a day this offseason without studying tape. He turned an office in his grandparents' house into his film room back home in Florida and put in an average of four hours a day, notepad at his side. The product is a more polished player, poised for a breakthrough season in year two with the Lions.
"I think he took a huge step from last year," said Jameson Williams, who battled Arnold throughout training camp. "I'm not saying he was down, but he’s way better than he was last year."
"He’s looking like a CB1 that can go follow people and do it on a consistent basis," defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said recently on the Bleav In Lions podcast.
The Lions threw Arnold into the fire as a rookie because they knew he had the makeup to handle it. Under former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Arnold played more snaps in man coverage than any cornerback in the NFL. He got burned along the way, but he also got better. He emerged from the ashes declaring, "I’ll be the best corner in the league pretty soon."
After last season ended, Arnold sat down with Lions defensive backs coach DeShea Townsend. A former corner himself who played 13 years in the NFL and won two Super Bowls, Townsend highlighted the areas where Arnold needed to grow. He emphasized tracking and locating the ball in coverage. Arnold was penalized frequently in the early stages of last season for strictly playing the man. He smoothed that out as the games went on and wound up allowing a passer rating in man coverage of 75.8 -- almost identical to that of Patriots All-Pro Christian Gonzalez -- but there was still a sizable hole in Arnold's resume by the end of the year.
Zero picks.
"Knowing when the ball's in the air, you have to just play and not panic," Arnold said after the final practice of training camp. "That’s another thing that me and Coach Shea have really just been going after and preaching: look, find the ball, bring it back to the offense or go score."
Arnold has ball skills; just ask him. He had an SEC-best five interceptions in his final season at Alabama. He picked off now-Commanders star Jayden Daniels against LSU (fair to say Daniels leveled the score last season) and now-Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart against Ole Miss -- "so it ain’t like it’s new to me!" Arnold exclaimed. "Now I just gotta transition." He'll see Daniels again this year within a ringer of quarterbacks in Detroit's first six road games that also features Jordan Love, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts.
When he laid eyes on the Lions' schedule, "I was excited," Arnold said, "because it just means opportunity. Knowing that you have a chance to go against caliber of guys like that, you gotta be on your A game -- because guys like that don’t make those mistakes. If you make one mistake, it could be going for six."
There's a difference between looking at film and really watching it. Arnold first took this to heart at Bama under then-cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson, another former NFL defensive back, and "then last year with Coach Shea, learning how to watch film from a coach’s perspective. Now that I know how to watch it and I know what I’m looking for, it’s second nature," he said.
Arnold doesn't watch his good plays; he knows he has those in his bag. He watches the plays he missed, each one "over and over and over," asking himself, "What do I see, what do I see?" He pays particular attention to how receivers, quarterbacks and even offensive coordinators are attacking him, trying to put himself in their shoes: What do they see? Receivers leave clues in their alignments, in the stems of their routes, even in the way they might tug on a glove when a pass is about to come their way. The trick is trying to find them. He watches other corners around the NFL as much as himself.
"It’s one thing to watch a game, but it’s another thing to slow it down, break it down and put yourself in the same mindset as the coaches," Arnold said. "A lot of people, when they watch film, they will sit there and just watch it. Nah, I got the call sheet right here, what calls are we going to be running, what’s the down and distance, what are the leverages? And then even just looking at what quarter is it."
Arnold goes back to the Lions' second game against the Bears last season. With Chicago facing 1st and 10 near midfield in the final minute of the first half and trailing by 20, Arnold tried to jump what looked like an out route by Keenan Allen, only to get burned for a long touchdown when Allen turned up field on a double-move and left Arnold in the dust. If he had been more mindful of the down and distance and the time on the clock, Arnold would've kept the play in front of him and waited to jump it until the ball was released.
On either side of a minor hamstring injury that cost him a handful of practices this summer, Arnold was one of the Lions' best players in training camp. He was sticky in coverage without being too handsy. He was better at finding the ball in phase. He was often step for step in matchups with Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown. In Williams' view, "he’s got a lot more patience in him" than last year. One of Arnold's highlights came in a one-on-one rep against St. Brown where he blanketed him down the sideline and made a leaping one-handed pick.
"He’s always had the physical gifts and tools, but it’s the mental standpoint (where he's grown the most)," Sheppard said this week. "Doing the extra meetings with Deshea and myself, wanting to understand the game of football, not just play it. Those are two different things. When you’re out there on those islands, your talent can only take you so far because the guy you’re matched up against is just as talented as you. You have to be able to play with anticipation, understand the stems of receivers, what routes they run off certain stems, certain formations and things like that. That’s where I’ve seen the growth with him, and Deshea has done an unbelievable job with that player."
The last practice of camp felt like Arnold’s final exam. With the Texans in Allen Park, he sparred frequently with star receiver Nico Collins. Early in team drills, C.J. Stroud hurled a deep ball to Collins with Arnold in tight coverage. Last year, Arnold might have face-guarded Collins the whole way, obstructed him at the point of the catch and been flagged for pass interference. Instead, he got his head around as the ball was coming down and leapt to break it up a few yards in front of the end zone. Collins made his share of plays, mostly on shorter throws over the middle, but Arnold never looked overmatched.
Arnold is as boisterous as they come. He strutted shirtless through the locker room on Friday, a cell phone held to either ear, singing at the top of his lungs. The more understated Sam LaPorta strolled by with a there-he-goes-again smile and said, “That’s a lot of noise.” Arnold, indeed, likes to be heard. The Lions don’t want to tame what Sheppard calls this “kid personality." They do want Arnold to be mindful of himself on the field as the NFL cracks down on taunting this year.
“We understand you’re going to talk trash, you’re going to joke around, but there’s a time and place for it and knowing when to lock in," said Sheppard. "I’ve seen that from him in these past six months."
Still, Arnold is Arnold, unapologetically so. He knows he has to walk the line in terms of running his mouth, but "everybody knows when it comes to that, I’m like Deion, I’ma pop my sh*t all the time," he grinned. "You’re going to see during the games. After I strap him, I’m gonna look, especially on their sideline, like, 'Yeah, stop playin' with me.'"
Another star for the Lions in camp was Arnold’s new wingman. DJ Reed looks every bit like a No. 1 corner worthy of his three-year, $48 million contract. The quiet, all-business vet, signed after Carlton Davis III departed for a slightly bigger deal with the Patriots, has already had a profound impact on Arnold. For one, says Arnold, “DJ added some punctualness to me that I didn’t have before.”
“Very, very detail-oriented. Like right now, he’s in the cold tub. And a family-oriented guy, so he’s not out going to the club, he’s going home to his wife and his (three) kids," said Arnold. "That’s somebody, I tell him, like, ‘Dude, your life is how I want my life to be."
With Reed on one side, Arnold on the other, Amik Robertson in the slot and two of the best in the game at safety in Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, Detroit’s secondary has a chance to be special. If they all stay healthy, said Arnold, it will be “a top-five secondary in the league,” which felt bashful by his standards. That would mark a major swing for a defense that allowed the third most passing yards in the NFL last season, mostly because of a ravaged defensive line and a number of big wins that left opposing teams no choice but to throw, throw, throw.
The Lions traded up to draft Arnold No. 24 overall because they saw a true lockdown corner, a valuable commodity in a league with quarterbacks and receivers galore. In himself, Arnold sees a star on the rise. He took his lumps and learned some lessons in year one. He plans to take it up a notch in year two.
"I’ve always been able to play the ball. Now it’s just a matter of going out there and making those plays," Arnold said. "Everybody's going to see what I’m able to do when the ball’s in the air soon, so I’m looking forward to it."