Most rookies are taken aback by the speed of the NFL, even in their first few practices. Not Terrion Arnold: "Nah, I came from Alabama, so practice was fast then." The new cornerback for the Lions was on the hip of the team's best receiver in several team drills Wednesday, going one-on-one with Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"We’re just in that competitive mold. He makes me better, I feel like I make him better and that’s why you come to the National Football league," Arnold said after Detroit's second practice of minicamp. "I feel like the matchup that we have, next year you’ll look at it like, when I’m a big-time player, he’s already a big-time player, this is something that people come to watch. We’re getting after it and going to work."
The work on Wednesday was sharp on both sides. During an end-of-game scenario where the offense was facing third down in the red zone, Jared Goff threw to St. Brown on a comeback route -- as automatic as it gets. Arnold shut it down by getting his hand in on the ball at the last second. Later, on another red zone rep, Arnold blanketed St. Brown on a post route and forced Goff to throw high out of the end zone.
"You see it, call him Sub Zero out there, doing what he do," said linebacker Derrick Barnes.
We'll see if that nickname sticks for Arnold, who's wearing No. 0 in Detroit. St. Brown eventually shook him on a curl route across the goal line and caught a perfectly-timed pass from Goff for the touchdown, chucking the ball into the air as an exclamation point. But this was an even duel between the Sun God and Sub Zero, who was asked afterward what it does to his psyche to win reps against a receiver like St. Brown.
"Oh, it don’t do nothing to me," he said. "I know I’m a big-time player. I just go out there and try to win the next rep. You gotta have an even-keel mindset, especially playing cornerback."
When the work was done, Goff and Arnold walked off the field together and shared a laugh. The quarterback said the 21-year-old cornerback is "fun to be around." It's typically Arnold doing the talking, but in this case it was Goff, who was both commending the rookie for the pass break-up and "giving him a hard time about missing practice early on (during OTA's) -- but he had a real injury. So when he did make that play, I said, 'Alright, you got me.'"
Arnold also got Goff during an end-of-game scenario last week when he picked off a pass intended for Jameson Williams on a sideline curl route. He's come as advertised as the 24th overall pick in the draft, with the instincts to read routes, the twitchiness to close quickly and the hands to make plays on the ball. He should thrive under a defensive coordinator -- and a former Pro Bowl corner -- who wants to play under your chin on every snap.
"It’s no surprise that the new guys we got excel in playing man coverage, something that we want to do here on defense, something that we’ve always wanted to do," said Aaron Glenn.
Another one of those newcomers has been playing opposite Arnold, veteran Carlton Davis III. As he put it himself, "I’m a man-to-man corner. I like to go up there, press you and lock you down." In other words, "I'm about to just lock sh*t up." While the pieces are still coming together at a position where the Lions also signed Amik Robertson and drafted Ennis Rakestraw one round after Arnold -- and re-signed vet Emmanuel Moseley -- the natural starters on the outside look like Davis and Arnold.
Which looks a whole lot better than the starting duo of Cam Sutton and Kindle Vildor that the Lions trotted out against the 49ers in the NFC title game. In three playoff games last season, Detroit allowed opposing quarterbacks to throw for 934 yards and six touchdowns. It surrendered the most air yards in the NFL in the regular season.
"We’re reshaping the cornerback position, especially in Detroit," Arnold said, when asked about playing in tandem with Davis III. "I feel like that’s something that people considered a weakness and now it’s a strength. Even me being able to learn from somebody like that and go out there every day and play with someone like that, I’m very excited to do it. I feel like this season people are going to be in for a treat when we do what we do."
It was one practice in June, without pads. It was a couple plays against St. Brown, who ultimately got him back. It's no time to anoint Arnold CB 1 in Detroit; that's Davis III, until further notice. Sub Zero is still at ground zero in his NFL career, climbing his way up the ladder. As Goff said, "He’s only been out here a handful of days."
He smiled to add, "But mentally he sure has it, the confidence, absolutely. He was a dude drafted in the first round for a reason and he was high on a lot of draft boards in this league. So we’ll see, but he’s done a great job up to this point."