After seeing former Alabama teammates Eli Ricks, Tyler Steen and Byron Young secure Super Bowl rings on Sunday in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, Detroit cornerback Terrion Arnold had a message for Lions fans.
“We are going to get ours, Detroit,” Arnold posted on social media, with the message accompanied by a ring emoji.
For much of the 2024 NFL season, it looked as though the Lions were going to get theirs this year.
After reaching the NFC Championship Game for the 2023 campaign, Detroit posted the best record in the conference at 15-2 during the 2024 regular season. But after earning the first-round bye as the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, the Lions lost their postseason opener 45-31 to the Washington Commanders.
Arnold joined Detroit on April 25 as the 24th selection in the NFL Draft.
Even though he missed one game, Arnold was among the five rookies who played at least 900 defensive snaps in the 2024 regular season, and he played all 75 in the Lions’ playoff loss on Jan. 18.
“We knew that it wasn’t going to be too big for him psychologically,” Detroit general manager Brad Holmes said about Arnold at his season-ending press conference. “He’s a highly confident kid. Had some up-and-down moments early on. Had some aggressive moments, which is a good thing. Didn’t have any timid moments. But I think all those snaps that he played is going to serve him well going forward.
“You just saw that the waters were a little choppy early, and you saw the waters kind of calm down kind of mid-point to later in the season. Very high expectations for him going forward. We all know how he’s wired. He’s wired the right way. He’s long, he’s athletic, he’s got instincts, he’s tough, he’ll tackle, so all those reps are just going to improve his confidence even more.”
In the first four games of the season, Arnold was flagged for defensive pass interference five times, defensive holding twice and a face mask once. In the remaining 14 games, Arnold was penalized three times, and because of an injury to former Auburn standout Carlton Davis, he played the most snaps at cornerback for the Lions this season.
