Prior to Terrion Arnold’s arrest and subsequent release, the Detroit Lions said that he would have to compete and win a starting job.
“We’ve got a lot of good guys in that room and he knows this, he’s got to go earn it,” coach Dan Campbell said on the final day of mandatory minicamp.
Whether that was going to be a real competition or Arnold’s job to lose is something we’ll never know for sure. But it now does bring up the question: can the Lions be okay at cornerback without Arnold, or do they need
to add more competition.
At Pride of Detroit, we’ve already discussed some free agent options, explored a possible trade for Denzel Ward, and explored the internal options. On this week’s Midweek Mailbag, Erik Schlitt and I bring it all together: how desperate are the Lions to add to their cornerback room?
On one topic we both agree: a trade for Ward seems extremely unlikely. While it would be an aggressive move to take the cornerback up a notch, Ward is 29 years old and, more importantly, he carries a $16.9 million salary this year that will jeopardize Detroit’s ability to balance their salary cap both in the present and the future.
However, we don’t full see eye-to-eye when it comes to what their approach should be otherwise. Personally, I think that while Detroit has options internally, at the very least they need to fortify their depth with a startable talent. As it stands right now, if Rock Ya-Sin steps into the starting lineup, their top reserves—Ennis Rakestraw, Nick Whiteside, and Khalil Dorsey—have a combined three career starts in the NFL. Detroit could always move Roger McCreary to the outside, but then they’d either be relying on rookie Keith Abney to start at nickel, or they’d have to shift a safety down to the nickel.
Schlitt has a different idea: moving Abney to the outside and exploring his development there.
“He was a talented kid that I thought was a Day 2 pick,” Schlitt said. “I’m interested to see—I think Abney could be the key here. If Abney’s picking things up quick, maybe he ends up being a guy who starts pushing for (playing) time.”
Although, Schlitt admitted if Abney isn’t picking things up quickly enough to challenge for a starting spot or be adequate depth on the outside, then maybe it’s time to give a call to someone like free agent Rasul Douglas.
You can catch our entire debate on this week’s mailbag podcast, which is available on any podcasting platform, including the Spotify embed below.
Other topics this week include:
- What NFL resources are available to players to help avoid Terrion Arnold’s situation?
- What round draft pick would the Lions use at cornerback in the 2027 NFL Draft?
- How does the Lions’ coaching hierarchy work? (ie: assistant head coach vs. associate head coach)
- Could Brian Branch move back to nickel?
- Can the Lions produce 13-personnel type of looks with Isaac TeSlaa/Jackson Meeks?
- Are Tyleik Williams and Ailm McNeill the key to everything on defense?
If you’re more of a video podcast consumer, you can catch the show WITH BONUS CONTENT on our YouTube page.
