Being drafted was great, but it’s what came after that really had new Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold feeling his emotions.

“Just to hear them chanting my name last night, I’ve always dreamed of moments like that as a kid,” Arnold said at his introductory news conference Friday. “I’ve considered myself like a fan favorite. I’ve always wanted the rep that, when they show up to games on Mondays, Thursdays or Sundays, I just get the name that, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I feel like Terrion is going to do something incredible.’”

One of the last players in the green room Thursday, Arnold was greeted with thunderous cheers from an estimated crowd of 275,000 when the hometown Lions traded up five spots to take him with the 24th pick in the draft.

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He addressed the crowd during an on-stage interview with NFL Network immediately after the pick, grabbing the microphone from host Kaylee Hartung and declaring Detroit his new home and telling fans they were getting “a star.”

Arnold, widely regarded as one of the draft’s top two cornerbacks — one of the Lions’ biggest positions of need —said he’s always looked at Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders as the model of flash and excitement he wants to emulate on the field.

On Friday, Arnold said he wanted to “be the Deion Sanders, or have that era in this generation here in Detroit.”

Sanders, ironically, said when he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1989 — after the Lions took Barry Sanders with the No. 3 overall pick — that he didn’t want to go to Detroit and would have asked for so much money the Lions would have had to put him “on layaway.”

“When you watch Deion Sanders you just think about excitement,” Arnold said. “Like you’re going to the games to see a show. Same thing with me. When the ball’s in the air, you know who’s coming down with it. And then we play in a tough division, so as far as going against the Bears, going against the Vikings, it’s going to be amazing. Those are the games you live for and it’s going to be a chance to just go out there and really show I am an alpha dog.”

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Arnold said he celebrated his selection for 3 seconds Thursday, the approach he and his grandfather always take with big accomplishments.

“He says it like this: He say, ‘T, let’s celebrate,’” Arnold said, deadpan. “And then we done.”

Arnold did make a special morning-after phone call Friday to his great-grandmother, whose initial reaction to the pick was, “That’s far.”

“So my great-grandmother, I would have had her in the green room with me but she had a crazy experience with a plane and she doesn’t fly,” Arnold said. “So for her to just say, ‘Well, now I might have to get on a plane,’ I feel like, I call it like a Detroit blessing. There’s just something about being in here, being in this city, it’s going to be fun, there’s going to be blessings everywhere.”

Arnold is expected to play a key role in the Lions secondary this fall and should compete for the starting job opposite Carlton Davis.

He tied for the SEC lead with five interceptions last season, in his first full year as starter, and said he plans to come in “humble and just open to learn.”

“I don’t want to come in here and just be that rookie who thinks he’s going to start,” he said. “I know I’m going to have to work for everything. I want to learn from the vets. Even me being in the locker room, I was in there with some of the veterans and they just said that they were grateful to have me here so you can just tell they welcome you with open arms.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

The Detroit Lions were able to get the No. 1 cornerback on their draft board, filling a pretty significant need on their roster. Terrion Arnold comes in and immediately transforms a cornerback room that struggled for nearly all of the 2023 season.

On the surface, it looks like a home-run pick for the Lions, considering Arnold was a consensus top-12 talent in the 2024 NFL Draft class. That said, it did cost the Lions significant draft capital to move up from pick 29 to 24, leaving some wondering if Detroit needed to overpay with so many strong defensive players still on the board.

Let’s take a look at the national reaction to the Lions’ pick of Arnold, and the grades they handed out to Lions general manager Brad Holmes.

SB Nation (J.P. Acosta): A+

“This is my favorite pick of the entire first round. Arnold is the perfect fit in Detroit in that defense. He’s a feisty, aggressive corner who can play inside or outside and has the ball skills to immediately be an impact player. Despite trading for Carlton Davis, the Lions still needed help at corner and Arnold can be an instant boost there. This pick is phenomenal.”

Pro Football Network (Cam Mellor): A+

“Though he doesn’t have elite vertical speed, Arnold is an extremely fluid, hyperactive short-area mover who can suffocate WRs in press-man with his corrective athleticism and 32” arms. At the catch point, he’s a natural playmaker, and he’s the exact kind of support presence Dan Quinn [sic] and Aaron Glenn will crave.”

USA TODAY (Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz): A

“Here are your flowers, Brad Holmes. One year after the Lions general manager was roundly criticized for going against the grain with his first-round selections, Holmes makes a pick that deserves instant applause. Arnold is hypercompetitive and seems like the kind of cornerback Dan Campbell would make in a lab.”

The Athletic (Nick Baumgardner): A

“Like the Eagles, the Lions landed outstanding value in the 20s — Arnold and Mitchell were pretty clearly the top two corners in this draft. For Detroit, this was also a perfect fit for the team’s established culture. Arnold is a confident corner who plays with swagger, loves to work, loves tough coaching and loves to win.”

The Ringer (Danny Kelly): A

“Lions GM Brad Holmes does it again. This is an excellent pick for Detroit, who grab my top-ranked corner (and no. 11 overall player) in Arnold here with the 24th pick. Arnold fell a bit, I would guess, because he ran a disappointing 4.50-second 40-yard dash at the combine. But he makes up for a lack of elite speed with high-end instincts and ball skills in coverage—and gives the Lions a plug-and-play starter for their cornerback-needy defense. It didn’t come cheap for Detroit, who surrendered their third-round pick (while getting back a seventh-rounder next year) to move up five spots. But I think Arnold is good enough to justify that cost.”

Yahoo Sports (Charles McDonald): A-

“Detroit trades up to get a quality prospect who was falling down the board at a position of need. Arnold has a chance to be the best cornerback on Detroit’s roster from Day 1 and gives the Lions a fortified presence in the secondary as the division adds Caleb Williams and J.J. McCarthy.”

PFF (staff): Very Good (just below ‘elite’)

“…an alpha presence in the secondary who plays with a fearless mentality. He led all SEC cornerbacks in interceptions and pass breakups in 2023. He also led the conference with a 90.6 PFF run-defense grade. Detroit has officially overhauled their cornerback room with the additions of Arnold, Carlton Davis and Amik Robertson.”

NFL.com (Chad Reuter): B+

“Considered a potential top-12 pick for much of the pre-draft process, he presented good value at No. 24, but we’ll see if trading a third-rounder to Dallas instead of waiting for Arnold’s former teammate, Kool-Aid McKinstry or Nate Wiggins later in the round would have made more sense.”

The 33rd Team (Ian Valentino): C

“The Detroit Lions desperately needed a stud at corner, and Terrion Arnold is a playmaker. However, some of his best play came in the slot where Brian Branch is. Arnold will have to improve his technique to blossom as a full-time outside corner.”

With a heavy early run on offensive players in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions got aggressive and traded up to acquire a player that most experts believed shouldn’t have been available. After executing a deal with the Dallas Cowboys, the Lions acquired pick No. 24 and selected Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold.

“He fits us like a glove,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said of Arnold.

Pro ready habits, mentality

For those who wanted Jaylon Johnson (Bears cornerback) in free agency, well you just got him in the draft with the addition of Arnold. A student of the game, Arnold’s passion for football runs deep, and he possesses the confidence you would expect from a two-year starter at Alabama.

A film room junkie, Arnold is highly intelligent, competitive, and mentally tough. He prepares like a professional, is open to criticism, and has the awareness to implement what he is being taught. Holmes made a point of telling the media that he saw noticeable, incremental progress throughout Arnold’s development which points to his unlimited ceiling.

Holmes also added the fact that Arnold possesses a lot of significant traits that illustrate that he is wired the right way, including being “gritty” and playing with “a challenge mentality.”

Coverage scheme, positional range

Alabama played more zone last season than they have in previous seasons, leading to a wealth of experience in both zone and press man coverage schemes. While he’s comfortable in both schemes, he does prefer to play in more man concepts.

“I prefer man coverage,” Arnold told Justin Melo of the Draft Network. “It’s special to take another man’s willpower away from him in man coverage. No matter what, you can’t do anything with me in man coverage. In zone coverage, sometimes you get those softer cushion routes and the receiver can find a hole in the zone. They can complete a pass in that situation. But man-on-man coverage, that’s dog-on-dog. Let’s find out who the better player is.”

Arnold would often match up with the opponent’s top wide receivers and is comfortable following them all over the field, including into the slot. Arnold was recruited to play safety but quickly shifted to corner under Alabama coach Nick Saban. That safety experience has given him a unique experience to understand how to function out of the slot, something most pure outside corners don’t possess.

Skill set

In coverage, Arnold is fluid and smooth, plays with loose hips, and is sticky in coverage. His natural instincts are to turn his head and locate the football, while his film preparation helps him always be in the right spot to make impact plays. He has tremendous ball skills, including five interceptions and 17 pass breakups in 2023.

He’s physical in coverage, challenging wide receivers for jump balls, while also providing excellent run support. He is a sound tackler in space, plays downhill, and hits like a safety.

With his preparation, range, and ball skills, Arnold makes plays all over the field.

Challenge to start

Arnold is expected to immediately challenge for a starting role in the Lions defense.

This offseason, the Lions made a point of adding talent to their cornerback room. They traded for Carlton Davis, signed Amik Robertson, and re-signed Emmanuel Moseley. Davis has locked up a starting role, but Robertson and Moseley were expected to challenge to start on the opposite corner after the release of Cam Sutton. Now with Arnold in the fold, the Lions starting competition just got a whole lot deeper.