Detroit Lions CB Terrion Arnold wants ‘Primetime’ vibe in Motor City

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.