Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said in his annual preseason press conference Wednesday, Sept. 2, that Terrion Arnold’s availability was not a factor in how he built his team this offseason, and insisted he’s content with the makeup of the Lions’ cornerback room heading into the regular season.
“We like the guys we have,” Holmes said in Allen Park in his first comments since Arnold’s release in late June. “We like what we’ve done and we feel good about what’s in the room right now.”
Arnold’s name first surfaced in conjunction with a kidnapping and armed robbery case in Florida in early February, when six of his associates were charged with multiple felonies.
Arnold denied being involved in the incident publicly and to the team, and the Lions
made few moves to address the cornerback position while he was still on the roster.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said at the NFL’s annual meeting in March the team did not feel the need to prioritize insurance at cornerback because “we got all the information that says [Arnold] wasn’t involved.”
“Until something happens, I feel like we’re going to be good here," Campbell said March 30. "I’m going to trust what the kid said and we’re all right."
Florida authorities arrested Arnold on four counts of kidnapping and four counts of armed robbery June 24, and the team released him five days later.
Arnold has since signed with the Seattle Seahawks, but is on the commissioner’s exempt list and unable to play while the NFL investigates the incident.
“Look, the whole situation obviously was unfortunate,” Holmes said. “The kid made a mistake. The more information that we got throughout the process, that was the result of us doing what the best and right thing was for the club, which was to move on and more forward. Appreciate everything that he did, but I think with respect of the present right now, to focus on the guys that we have here and we like the guys that we have right now in that room.”
Asked what the Lions did to investigate the incident beyond take Arnold at his word, Holmes said, “We had a lot of information that was coming in that we were privy to and then we just made sure that we did not ignore any of the information and we looked at it, and we came to the decision to move on and move forward after we had enough information.”
A first-round pick in 2024, Arnold started 22 of 24 games when healthy the past two seasons at outside cornerback and was expected to compete for that role again in 2026 in a cornerback room that made two low-asset additions and lost starting slot cornerback Amik Robertson in free agency.
The Lions re-signed Rock Ya-Sin, who replaced Arnold in the starting lineup last season after Arnold suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, at the start of the offseason, added slot cornerback Roger McCreary as Robertson’s replacement in free agency and took another nickel cornerback, Keith Abney, in the fifth round of the draft.
Ya-Sin and returning starter D.J. Reed are projected to start Week 1 at outside cornerback for the Lions, and McCreary and Abney are competing for the top slot job.
Asked if he didn’t add more to the room offseason because he thought Arnold would be a part of the competition, Holmes said, “No, that didn’t go into the decision of what we did in this past offseason. Again, like I said, we like the guys that we have in this room.”
“I think those guys, a little bit more respect for what those guys have done and what they can do in the National Football League,” assistant general manager Ray Agnew said in the press conference. “Those guys have played a lot of football, so we feel good about those guys
Holmes said the Lions “like the depth” they have at cornerback behind Reed and Ya-Sin.
Ennis Rakestraw Jr., a second-round pick in 2024, is expected to serve as the No. 3 outside cornerback after missing last season with a shoulder injury, Khalil Dorsey is another backup and top special teams player at the position, and Holmes’ touted Abney’s growth and McCreary’s versatility.
“We liked being able to bring Roger McCreary,” Holmes said. “He’s played a lot of football, both inside and a little bit outside. I would actually argue that some of the stuff that he did on the outside was – what he did last year on the outside [after being traded to the Rams] may have been a little bit more appealing than what he did inside at his first stop [Titans], so really like him. And then us being able to draft Keith Abney, he’s been a quick study in terms of his instincts, his toughness, his ability to do a lot. He’s just a football player, so when you really think about, you look at the totality of the group, we still got Dorse, I think he’s one of the better gunners in the league. I just, I think overall we have a good group there.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brad Holmes: Terrion Arnold situation 'unfortunate,' happy with CB room
