ALLEN PARK — Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes doesn't believe — or at least, wouldn't admit — that the team should have done more to insure the outside cornerback position for 2026 as the saga of Terrion Arnold dragged on last offseason. In an exchange with a reporter at the team's headquarters on Wednesday, Sept. 2, Holmes said the potential of Arnold's arrest and subsequent release from the team "didn't go into the decision of what we did in this past offseason."
This statement came a few months after Holmes said on the Lions Collective Podcast on March 24 that he considers himself a "pessimistic planner," whether that's "something a player went through off the field, or something that's going on from a medical standpoint ... I just like to prepare myself for that." Arnold, 23, is facing eight felony charges with a maximum sentence of up to life in prison related to an armed robbery and kidnapping that occurred in Tampa, Fla., earlier this year. Arnold was arrested on June 24 and released by the Lions on June 29 after he appeared in Hillsborough County Circuit Court for a pretrial detention hearing, where Judge Christopher Sabella said he found there was probable cause that Arnold committed the crimes he was charged with. "The whole situation, obviously, was unfortunate," Holmes said Wednesday. "Look, the kid made a mistake. The more information that we got throughout the process, that was the result of us doing what the best and right thing was for the club, which was to move on and move forward. "We appreciate everything that (Arnold) did, but I think with respect of the present, right now, (we're focused) on the guys that we have here, and we like the guys that we have in the room right now." After Holmes answered a follow-up, assistant general manager Ray Agnew chimed in, "I think those guys (are due) a little more respect of what those guys have done and what they can do in the National Football League. Those guys have played a lot of football, so, we feel good about those guys." The Lions did not add another starting-caliber outside cornerback in free agency or the draft. Detroit did, however, spend a fifth-round pick on Keith Abney II, who profiles more as a slot cornerback at the NFL level, and brought in several additions who could compete for a role in the slot, such as Roger McCreary and Christian Izien. While the team has reasons to believe in the starting outside cornerback duo of Rock Ya-Sin and D.J. Reed, both players will be 30 by the end of the 2026 season, and Reed is coming off a season in which he missed six games because of a hamstring injury. Cornerback has been an area of weakness throughout the team's contending window. The Lions are one injury away from being forced to rely heavily on Ennis Rakestraw Jr., who has just 46 defensive snaps on his NFL resume, has had some significant ups and downs throughout this training camp, and is saddled with significant durability concerns. "Ennis, just glad his health has been better and he's had a chance to go out there and compete, and he's gotten better throughout camp," Holmes said. "He has a lot of ability. He's got a lot of stuff in his body where he can play sticky. I think his run-game stuff has improved, he showed that throughout the preseason as well. ... Him missing last year, he was able to get his body in a lot better shape, in terms of his strength development and a little bit of weight added to him." Asked what the team did to affirm the story that Arnold told the team after he was initially implicated by Hillsborough County Circuit Judge J. Logan Murphy in February, Holmes said, "We just had a lot of information that was coming in that we were privy to, and then we just made sure that we did not ignore any of the information, and then we looked at it, and we can do a decision to move on and move forward after we added more information." Asked another follow-up if he felt he could have done more to insure the position after it felt like the ties to Arnold were not going away, Holmes said, "I've answered this multiple times. We like the guys that we have in the room right now. So, are you saying that because we didn't get another young, outside corner from another team? Or because we didn't pick one in the first round? Is that what you're asking?" Holmes added, "We did bring players in. We did draft a corner. We did bring corners in in free agency. We did re-sign a corner, so that's why I'm asking ... You're saying we didn't do anything." The Lions open their season against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Sept. 13 and face a shorthanded receiver room. The real test for Detroit's secondary, which also will be without safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, will come in Week 2, when the team travels to play the Buffalo Bills, who are touting a revamped receiving room following the acquisition of former Chicago Bears receiver D.J. Moore. nbianchi@detroitnews.com @nolanbianchi This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Brad Holmes confident enough work was done to build Lions' CB depth