Terrion Arnold will be back sooner than the Lions expected.
A day after Dan Campbell said that Arnold "is going to be out for a long time," possibly for the rest of the season, a second opinion on Arnold's shoulder revealed that the "injury is not as bad as feared," per Adam Schefter, and that Arnold could return as soon as this month.
That would be a boon to Detroit's defense, which is already missing No. 1 corner DJ Reed as he recovers from a hamstring injury. The Lions will still be without their top two corners for the next couple games, but it sounds like Arnold might be able to return after their Week 8 bye for their game against the Vikings on Nov. 2.
He first injured his shoulder in the Lions' Week 4 win over the Browns, then re-aggravated it making a tackle in their win last Sunday over the Bengals.
Arnold was having one of the better games of his young career against the Bengals before he left late in the third quarter, despite a pair of penalties. The defense suffered without him, allowing Jake Browning to throw three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Arnold said afterward that his shoulder was "hurting really, really bad, but I wouldn’t trade the world for anything to be out there with my teammates."
"I’m gonna give my all to this team, whether it’s me going out there with a half a shoulder, hurting, I’m gonna go out there and sacrifice everything and lay it all on the line for my guys," he said.