Normally it’s veterans helping young players in this league, but Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold is reversing that role with two new players.
Terrion Arnold was one of the many players who we didn’t end up seeing on the field during OTAs, as the Detroit Lions were overly cautious with many players during their spring practices. However, talking to some of the players who were in attendance, it appears the second-year cornerback is still managing to make a positive impact with the team.
Normally with a young player like Arnold, they are taking in as much information as they can and being a sponge. With two new veteran additions to the secondary—cornerback D.J. Reed and defensive back Avonte Maddox—Arnold now has a couple of resources to learn from in what could be a Year 2-jump season.
However, according to both players, Arnold is giving as much as he’s getting. For Reed, Arnold—who has remained in Detroit during the offseason program—has been a great asset when it comes to learning the Lions’ defensive scheme.
“He hit me up a couple of days ago when I was practicing, and he was basically watching my film for me and telling me what I need to work on,” Reed said during OTAs. “And he was correct, too, with what he emphasized I needed to work on. So the next day, I went and worked on that.”
Yes, you read that right. A second-year cornerback is out there watching practice film of an eight-year veteran and offering sound advice. Pretty darn impressive for a 22-year-old.
His youth is also coming in handy. Avonte Maddox is also entering his eighth NFL season, and he thrives off the youthful energy that Arnold, along with Ennis Rakestraw (23 years old), Kerby Joseph (24), and Brian Branch (23), brings to the room. Here’s how he explained it to Detroit Football Network .
“(Terrion Arnold) is actually No. 1. I’m always telling him to take his medicine, calm him down a little bit,” Maddox said. “…It lifts me up. It makes me feel like I’m back to when I was their age, just cracking jokes. They’re like, what? 21? 22? I’m 29. I was jumping off the porch and walking around school when they were coming out the womb.”
Arnold is coming off the type of rookie season you’d expect from a first-round cornerback. There were flashes of really solid play mixed with a lot of learning opportunities. That experience alone should help him progress in 2025. However, defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend noted that Arnold is also going the extra mile this offseason.
“I think any expectation any time you get a chance to have as many reps as he had, it helps you,” Townsend said. “The only way you can get better is getting a chance to rep. He understands how they’re attacking him, and he found out about himself. ‘What do I do best? How can I make those strengths stronger, and my weaknesses, what do I do now, this offseason, to make them better?’ Just conversating throughout the process, before he got back.
“Then he grabbed me right now; we were in the office watching a tape just now. He is trying to be the best player he can be, and that’s what it takes. You have to work on your craft. You have to find out how you can get better in the offseason. He’s working (on) that.”