The Lions selected cornerbacks with their first two picks in this year’s draft and they got a chance to see them on the field for the first time Friday.
First-rounder Terrion Arnold and second-rounder Ennis Rakestraw Jr. are taking part in the team’s rookie minicamp as they begin their push to earn roles in the secondary during the 2024 season. Assistant G.M. Ray Agnew said he thinks “both of those guys think they will start, and they’ve got their work cut out for them” in order to reach that goal.
Agnew also said that “we don’t want guys that bow down to people” on the Lions defense and Arnold’s answer to a question about his competitiveness shows that he draws no lines on that front.
“I’ll never forget one time my mom kicked my tooth out because we was just going at it so hard so if my mom was out here right now and she lined up across me as a receiver, I would jam her into the dirt,” Arnold said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com. “That’s my mindset and my mom knows that right now. I just mean it in the simple aspect of like football-wise, that’s just the way that I think and the way that I was brought up.”
Arnold is unlikely to find a Mother’s Day card that expresses that sentiment, but the Lions are likely happy to have that kind of competitive fire on the defense.