Terrion Arnold told Lions to trade up to draft him, shares his 'Michael Jordan moment'
Terrion Arnold had a feeling the Detroit Lions were going to trade up to get him in the first round of Thursday's NFL draft.
When he made his pre-draft visit to the Lions earlier this month, Arnold left defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn with a message.
"I walked in there, they said, 'Man, it’s all about fit, did you like the fit?'" Arnold told a small group of reporters early Friday morning. "I said, 'Coach, you know what you need to do, trade up.' Me and A.G., we walked in there. He said, 'Hopefully we get a chance to get you.' I said, 'You know what to do, trade up.' That’s what they did."
The Lions filled their biggest need on defense by moving up five spots in the first round to take Arnold, the top-rated cornerback on their board, with the 24th overall pick. The Lions gave up first- and third-round choices in the deal, and also received a 2025 seventh-rounder in return.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes told reporters in Allen Park he began making calls trying to move up to get Arnold in the late teens. Offensive players comprised the first 14 picks of the draft, and Toledo's Quinyon Mitchell was the first cornerback drafted, at No. 22 overall by the Philadelphia Eagles.
"I didn’t think he was going to be there," Holmes said. "Really, didn’t think he was going to be there calling late teens, but really trying and thinking we were going to have to settle for a different player at a different position."
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Arnold was considered one of the best playmaking cornerbacks in the draft after he tied for the SEC lead with five interceptions and earned first-team All-America honors last season in his first year as a full-time starter.
Arnold said during a community service event Wednesday at the Corner Ballpark that losing his starting job as a redshirt freshman for several games in 2022 was his "Michael Jordan moment." After his benching, he said he began showing up two hours early for 6:30 a.m. workouts, determined to be a star.
"It’s going to drive me to that gold jacket," he said. "And I say that redundantly, repetitively, but I really mean it when I say that."
Holmes called Arnold a "sticky" coverage player who showed "an incremental improvement just every single game." He had 12 pass breakups, 63 tackles and a forced fumble last season.
"He’ll get in your face," Holmes said. "He’s got a challenge mentality. He will tackle. He’s got the right mindset that we’re looking for. He fits us like a glove. He fits us to a tee exactly how we want to play.”
Arnold also has an engaging personality he showed off late Thursday night to the estimated 275,000 fans who attended the draft in downtown Detroit, many wearing Honolulu blue.
Asked in an NFL Network interview immediately after the pick how he wanted to introduce himself to the city, Arnold grabbed the microphone from host Kaylee Hartung and said, "I just want to say, Detroit, y'all got a star, man. Hey, I'm home, man. I'm home."
Arnold went crowd-surfing with fans before making his way over to the media room for a series of NFL partner appearances, and joked, "Somebody tried to take my whole suit off of me, but it was cool. It was all right."
After he finished his media obligations for the night, he said he was going out to party with Lions receiver Jameson Williams, his former teammate at Alabama.
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"I just feel like how Michael Jordan and LeBron James, they were born to play basketball, I was born to play football," Arnold said. "My brother’s dad (is former NFL player) Leon Washington, I’ve been around the National Football League ever since I was 5 years old and watching how he got the crowd in games, got them to interact, and then just from watching Deion Sanders, I knew this was what I wanted to do."
Arnold is the third first-round pick and fifth player the Lions have taken from Alabama in the past three drafts.
Along with Williams, the No. 12 choice in 2022, the Lions spent a first-round pick on running back Jahmyr Gibbs and traded up to take safety Brian Branch in the second round last spring. Arnold said Branch joined his dinner party to celebrate his pending draft pick Wednesday night.
"Me and BB, we been talking cause instantly I’ve always said if I get the chance to play with him again, it’s going to be a show," Arnold said. "I feed off him, he feeds off me and BB is a little quiet, I’m more outgoing, so expect me to bring him out of his shell a little bit more."
Arnold and Branch should get a chance to pair up in the secondary this fall, when the Lions will open the season as one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl.
Already this offseason, the Lions have transformed their secondary, trading for Carlton Davis, signing Amik Robertson, cutting Cam Sutton amid legal problems and letting C.J. Gardner-Johnson walk in free agency.
Arnold should compete for the starting job opposite Davis on Day 1, and could be the Lions' long-term No. 1 cornerback with Davis scheduled to be a free agent next spring. Branch is the team's starting slot cornerback after tying for fifth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2023.
Arnold, who turned 21 in March, said in the early-morning hours Friday his philosophy is to "either be phenomenal or be forgotten, and I’m not here to be forgotten."
"People want to go high (in the draft), and obviously just sitting in the green room (as one of the last players at the draft) they asked me did I want to go and sit back there with Roger Goodell," Arnold said. "I was like, 'Nah, man. I’m in my moment, I want to be around my people and everything happens for a reason.' God got me here for a reason and I’ll say for such a time of this, we’re going to go win a Super Bowl in Detroit."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions draft pick Terrion Arnold: 'I was born to play football'
