Lions' Terrion Arnold says Raiders "coin tossed" to draft Brock Bowers over him
The NFL Draft often offers up some unique stories, and Detriot Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold has revealed a rather eyebrow-raising one. With Arnold expected to go early in the first round (he did eventually to the Lions at pick No. 24), there were also other teams who were interested in him.
After such a long draft process, it was good for Terrion Arnold to finally hear his name called, but he found out after the draft that he could have been taken higher...much higher.
Talking on The Next Round Live show, Arnold sensationally revealed that the Las Vegas Raiders were interested in drafting him, but a simple flip of the coin meant it was Georgia tight end Brock Bowers who the Raiders went with.
Arnold said:
"Actually, the Raiders coach called me after the draft, they were like, 'We had a coin toss between you and Brock Bowers, and landed on him. 'I was like, 'Oh, wow.'"
It is rather jarring to hear that it came down to a coin toss for an NFL organization to decide who to pick, but for Arnold, at least he has gone to a team that really wanted him. We imagine that he will use that as motivation as he sets out to make his mark with the Lions this offseason.
Terrion Arnold joins up-and-coming Lions defense
The Lions were one of the feel-good stories of the 2023 season. They won their division and multiple playoff games before narrowly losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
The offense was humming and ranked 5th in scoring under quarterback Jared Goff, but the defense left a bit to be desired as it ranked 16th, allowing 23.2 points a game.
Enter Terrion Arnold.
In the Lions' last four games (one regular season, three playoff games), the defense gave up 400+ total yards of offense.
Arnold, who is more of a boundary corner, will help the Lions' secondary deal with the amount of huge passing offenses they will meet in 2024. He is extremely athletic and brings his ball skills (five interceptions last year for Alabama) to the NFC North as the Lions now have a ball-hawking corner.
Still, we find it rather odd that the reason why Terrion Arnold landed in Detroit was because the Raiders wanted to flip a coin. At least he's in the league and on a playoff-caliber team to boot.