As Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold continues to find his way in the NFL in his first season, he was recently given some advice from one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, New York Jets star Sauce Gardner.
Arnold has definitely been a plus through his first four games in the NFL. The rookie has surrendered a completion rate of 55.2% and a passer rating of 83.1, which are both strong numbers for a first-year player.
The biggest issue for Arnold has been penalties. He's tallied eight thus far, including multiple defensive holding and pass interference flags. It's definitely an area he needs to improve in, but nobody should be panicking, as rookies are prone to make mistakes like that.
“That’s the thing in the league; if you’re a DB and you’ve played, you’ve had at least one PI called on you,” cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend said of Arnold. “That’s just the nature of the business. He just has to keep playing. That’s the one thing that we have to continue to do is not worry about the penalties and just go play.
Recently, Gardner took to X to share some advice for Arnold. No, it wasn't a tip on how to avoid penalties, but rather something to do with his press stance.
"I think Arnold lines up too low in his press stance, if he raises up a lil bit he good money," Gardner tweeted while watching Arnold on Monday night.
I think Arnold lines up too low in his press stance, if he raises up a lil bit he good money
— SAUCE GARDNER (@iamSauceGardner) October 1, 2024
Getting the Sauce stamp of approval on Arnold, who looks very much the part of a future shutdown corner, is pretty cool. And the Jets cornerback is someone whose advice should definitely be taken seriously, so Arnold should make note of it.
Chances are if Gardner sees this problem, the Lions coaches do, too, so rest assured they'll be working on that moving forward.
It's always important to remember that Arnold is a rookie and a work in progress. He's going to hit bumps in the road along the way, like with penalties, for example.
However, it's hard not to be pleased with what we've seen fromhim thus far, and once Arnold refines his game, he's going to be the special player everyone envisioned when he came out of college.
