Terrion Arnold: "T.A. is in competition with himself" in year three

It was four months ago at the combine that Kelvin Sheppard issued a public challenge to Terrion Arnold entering year three of his career: "I need him to be quiet and just play.”

“That kid has a great heart, man," Sheppard said. "He wants to be great. But I told him, there’s a difference between talking about being great, and actually being great, and he's starting to understand that. It comes with maturity."

A few days later, news broke that Arnold was implicated in a kidnapping and armed robbery plot in Florida involving stolen goods from a rental property under Arnold's name. Arnold denied any involvement through his attorney and has not been charged with a crime. The Lions have stood behind Arnold since getting his side of the story, with Dan Campbell telling reporters at the owners meetings, "I’m going to trust what the kid said."

As far as the Lions are concerned, the former first-round cornerback will be on the field at the start of this season.

Asked about the offseason noise as the Lions wrapped up their spring practices on Wednesday, Arnold said, "I feel like I’ve grown as a person just because when you have to sit back and just look at everything and be quiet, sometimes silence is the best answer to everything. And it’s growth as far being a man and being a player."

Of course, Arnold isn't much one for silence. He acknowledged that with a smile and said, "With me, there’s a time and a place. But I’m confident. I ain’t never going to hold my tongue for nobody." He did hold his tongue when asked if he could address the off-field issues and said, "Nah, I just want to focus on football."

Arnold, 23, was asked later if he needs to tighten his circle in light of the incident in Florida and said that it's already plenty tight: "I’m a home guy, hang around my family and stuff like that ... I got my granddad, I got God, got my family."

He said he appreciates the backing from Campbell, Brad Holmes and the Lions.

"Having everybody in the building’s support and knowing that you have a coach who will go to bat for you, it means everything. It was the same thing when I came here and I got drafted, Brad always said, ‘When you come here, man, this is a family.' And this is the building and the type of place that you want to be in. A lot of guys preach that, but honestly this place feels like home," said Arnold.

Arnold's home this season needs to be on the field. He has not fulfilled his draft pedigree through two seasons, in part because he's struggled to stay healthy. Last season should have been his breakout year. Instead, Arnold was slowed by calf and hamstring injuries in training camp, a groin injury in Week 1, a shoulder injury in Week 5, a concussion in Week 10 and a re-aggravation of the shoulder in Week 13 that eventually required surgery in December.

The Lions are being careful with Arnold's recovery, bringing him along slowly in spring practices and holding him out of most team periods. He hopes to be 100 percent by the start of training camp.

"Right now I would say I’m at about 75-80 percent," Arnold said. "The main thing for me is just knowing that I am healthy now. It’s one of those things where you have to go out there and play knowing that you’re not at 100 percent — which, nobody is at 100 percent. But being able to enter camp knowing that I had the surgeries, got worked on, feeling better, I’m ready for that."

The Lions need Arnold to take a real step forward this season, especially with star safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch sidelined as they rehab injuries of their own. In theory, Arnold and D.J. Reed can form a strong tandem of corners. In reality, that has yet to come to life. Sheppard made no bones about it at the combine when he said, "T.A. knows I'm going to be very demanding of him this year."

"It's no more of this, 'Aw, he's still a puppy.' No, he's not. He's expected to play at a high level. He's doing things right now to make sure his body's conditioned and in shape to be able to do it for the long haul and make sure we're not on the roller coaster this year, make sure it's consistent play and he's getting better," Sheppard said.

Arnold repped with the second-team defense at times this spring, with fellow 2024 draft pick Ennis Rakestraw getting lots of looks with the starters across from Reed. That was mostly because Arnold isn't yet cleared for contact. Campbell said Wednesday that the priority for Arnold is to be fully healthy and ready to go for camp, "and then it's on. It's just about competing. We’ve got a lot of good guys in that room and he knows this. He's got to go earn it."

“He'll get his job back when he gets back out there," defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend said Wednesday. "But he’s gotta get back out there first.”

Assuming he can stay out there, the next question is whether Arnold can pick up where he left off last season. He felt like he "started playing my best ball" before his shoulder injury in the Lions' Week 5 win over the Bengals, "just as far as getting comfortable." He believes his performance that day in matchups with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is proof of what he can do at his best.

A number of highly-drafted corners over the last few years have grown into stars in the NFL, including Seattle's Devon Witherspoon (fifth overall) and New England's Christian Gonzalez (17th) in 2023 and Philadelphia's Quinyon Mitchell (22nd) in 2024. Arnold, who went two picks after Mitchell, is one of the few first-rounders who hasn't. If he belongs in their company, this is the year he has to prove it.

Right?

"People have seen me play at a high level, got hurt, but it’s not about trying to prove it," Arnold said. "It’s really just going out there and trying to be consistent. That’s my whole focus. As a cornerback, you can have 99 good plays, one bad play changes everything. I don’t pay attention to stuff like that. My whole focus year three is, how can T.A. be a better player? Who is T.A. in competition with? T.A. is in competition with himself. That’s my mindset."

He's also in competition with Rakestraw, Rock Ya-Sin and anyone else who shows he's capable of contributing at T.A.'s position. Campbell made it clear on Wednesday that the Lions are done handing out jobs after last season's 9-8 stumble, that the best players will play -- regardless of name, stature, pedigree -- and that those who fall behind will get left behind: "We're not going to let anybody hold us hostage."

"It's just, we need to see growth, we need to see development. At some point, you can't wait anymore. It's not fair to everybody else on this roster, or the coaches, or us, or anybody," Campbell said.

His words weren't in direct reference to Arnold, but they could have been. The Lions need the player they believe they drafted two years ago to show up this season. In a league ruled by quarterbacks and receivers, elite cornerbacks are more important than ever. Each of the NFL's top six scoring defenses last season, including three of the four teams that played on conference championship weekend, boasted a true difference-maker on the outside:

Witherspoon for the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, Gonzalez for the Patriots, Mitchell for the Eagles, Patrick Surtain II for the Broncos, Derek Stingley Jr. for the Texans, and Trent McDuffie for the Chiefs. And the only outlier on championship weekend, the Rams, turned around and traded for McDuffie this offseason. All of those players were first-round picks.

Whether it's Arnold or Reed for the Lions, someone has to step up this season. Ideally, it will be both. Reed, for his part, looks and feels more like himself after recovering from a hamstring injury last season that cost him two months and zapped his explosiveness.

"People have seen what it’s like for us to go out there and individually have success," Arnold said. "When the season first started, I feel like D.J. was playing lights out, and then when he got hurt I had to pick up the slack. When we go out there and play together, it’s going to be exciting to watch. And I mean, as far as with us, it comes with time. We’re working together, working diligently, but I know how good we can be. And I think it’s going to be special."

Arnold says he loves the competition coming his way in camp. It's not pressure, he says. It's an opportunity to raise his game and lift the team: "If you don’t have coaches who are going out there trying to find guys to replace you, to push you, it’s not going to get the best out of you." And he doesn't view this season as his make-or-break year. He says "that’s the narrative that the media puts on it."

"I treat it as, every day is a make-or-break day," Arnold said. "Like my uncle always told me, when I lay down at night, do I want to save this day or delete this day? My goal is to go out there and save as many days as possible."

If he makes as many plays as possible, Arnold can delete the doubts of his first two seasons.