The Monday afternoon release of cornerback Terrion Arnold following his arrest for kidnapping and other charges last week confirms what was already a rumbling possibility — the Detroit Lions’ 2024 draft class is an immense disappointment.
It’s still only two years in, and there are a few players who could still turn their careers around. But on the whole, this haul looks like a failure for the Lions and general manager Brad Holmes.
Arnold, the class’ headliner after Detroit traded up to draft him 24th overall, was largely viewed as the best cornerback on the board after the Philadelphia Eagles took Quinyon Mitchell six picks earlier.
But even before the off-field incident that ended his Lions career, Arnold never got it going in Detroit. In his two seasons as a Lion, he allowed a passer rating in coverage of 96.0 and was flagged 16 times for either pass interference or holding. He struggled with injuries as well and a shoulder season ended his 2025 season in November.
Arnold flashed starter-quality play at times, but it was always going to take some wishful thinking to project him as a long-term starter in Detroit.
The rest of the class doesn’t get much better.
Lions' 2024 draft class is suddenly in full view with Arnold's release
The Lions doubled up on corners with the selection of Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw Jr. in the second round. He only appeared in eight games as a rookie before a hamstring injury ended his season, and he missed all of 2025 after a shoulder injury suffered in training camp. To date, he’s played just 46 career snaps in the NFL.
Detroit didn’t have a third rounder because it traded it for cornerback Carlton Davis, which was fine. But then the Lions traded their 2025 third rounder to move up in the fourth round and take Canadian offensive tackle Giovanni Manu from British Columbia.
Manu was viewed as a developmental prospect with the upside to eventually replace Taylor Decker. Since then, he’s made one start in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals. In that game, he allowed two sacks and two pressures and hasn’t started since.
Detroit drafted offensive tackle Blake Miller in the first round this year, signaling the end of their plans for Manu as a potential starter. Manu is now trying out guard in an effort to stay on the roster.
The Lions drafted safety/running back Sione Vaki out of Utah in the fourth round as well. Most of his contributions have come on special teams. He is still learning the running back position and had one rush for four yards last year.
After trading David Montgomery this offseason, the Lions brought in veteran back Isiah Pacheco, not exactly the most glowing endorsement of Vaki’s ability to fill in as Jahmyr Gibbs’ No. 2 back. The Lions’ pair of fourth round picks from 2024 were bizarre then and look like complete whiffs now.
Sixth-round defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo showed some promise as a rotational piece his rookie season but fell out of the rotation in 2025 and got 14 straight DNPs that year. The Lions then drafted two more defensive tackles in 2026 with similar traits as Wingo, signaling he may not be long in Detroit.
The Lions’ final pick of the draft was sixth round guard Christian Mahogany. Mahogany was a full-time starter for Detroit in 2026, but missed seven games due to a foot injury. He had been struggling before the injury and played poorly following his return from it.
Detroit’s offensive line was bad last season, and Mahogany graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 77th-best pass blocking guard in football out of 81 players in 2025.
His starting job is up for grabs this training camp and even if he wins it, Mahogany profiles as the weakest link on Detroit’s offensive line.
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So overall, the prognosis is bad for this draft class. Perhaps Holmes was due for a stinker after an unbelievable run of hits from 2021-23, but these are the kinds of classes that can stunt a team in the long-term.
The draft is a team’s chance to find talent that they don’t need to pay big money right away. Without productive players on rookie contracts, teams are forced to spend more money to compete and it can muddle the salary cap quickly. Detroit already has tons of money tied up in future extensions to the players it did hit on, and just let several key veterans walk in free agency with the hope that its younger players can step up.
That becomes much harder to be hopeful about with a draft class that has as many apparent misses as this one, plus, the jury’s still out on the team’s 2025 class. Though some players in the 2024 class– namely Rakestraw, Mahogany, Vaki or even Wingo– could still become decent starters, the likelihood is that only one or two of them will, if that.
That means that, largely speaking, the Lions’ 2024 draft class is a washout. And a miss of this magnitude could have lasting ramifications on the team going forward, as it aims to prove it still has a shot at a Super Bowl with this current core.
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