Lions Part Ways With Former First-Round Cornerback

The Detroit Lions have parted ways with cornerback Terrion Arnold.

After the 2024 first-round pick was arrested last week, the team has elected to waive him. The decision comes following a pretrial detention hearing in which Arnold was granted a bond of $1 million under several conditions.

Among the conditions were for him to turn over his passport, and no contact with other co-defendants in the ongoing case.

Arnold is currently facing three counts of armed robbery, three counts of kidnapping, one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

The cornerback is in the third year of his four-year rookie deal, and the team had an option to add a fifth-year to that on account of him being a first-round pick.

During offseason workouts, Arnold was asked about the incident and elected not to comment, instead voicing his desire to focus on football.

The deal is worth a fully guaranteed $14.3 million over four years, with the value of the fifth-year option to be determined based on performance and playing time incentives. He has more than $3.6 million remaining in a prorated signing bonus spread out over the next two years, while he has more than $4 million in base salary due over that time frame.

Arnold had been repping with the second-team defense in a limited capacity throughout the team’s offseason workouts in June. This was on account of him rehabbing a season-ending shoulder injury, but also the fact that head coach Dan Campbell said he would have to earn his spot back.

Elsewhere on the roster, the Lions are returning a veteran starter in D.J. Reed. Other options who could step up in place of Arnold are veteran Rock Ya-Sin and third-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, whom the Lions drafted in the second-round of the same 2024 Draft as Arnold.

The team also signed veterans Roger McCreary and Christian Izien in free agency this offseason. McCreary is expected to be the team’s nickel cornerback, while Izien has the versatility to play either corner or safety but has prioritized playing the later in the absence of starters Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph while they rehab injuries.

In the fifth-round of this year’s NFL Draft, the Lions also added to the room with the selection of Arizona State cornerback Keith Abney II. Veteran Nick Whiteside is also back in the fold after spending time between the Lions’ active roster and practice squad throughout last season.

The Lions are set to have veterans report to training camp on July 28 and will begin practices shortly after. They begin the regular season on Sept. 13 with a game against the New Orleans Saints at Ford Field.

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