Terrion Arnold's first NFL interception may be coming soon, but now it'll have to wait a week. On Saturday, the Lions downgraded their first-round rookie cornerback and he's now out for Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts.
GAME STATUS UPDATE
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 23, 2024
CB Terrion Arnold (Groin) has been downgraded to OUT for Sunday's game at Indianapolis (will not travel with the team).
Arnold popped on Thursday's practice report with a groin issue, and new injuries mid-week are an automatic concern.
Before Friday's practice head coach Dan Campbell said he wasn't "concerned right now", pending how Arnold looked at practice.
"Yeah he should be good,” Campbell said about Arnold on Friday. “This morning he went in, got treatment, everything looked like it’s pretty good, so we’ll see what he looks like at practice today. I’m not concerned right now, but we’ll see how this day goes.”
On the final injury report of the week, Arnold was listed as questionable. Then, as the team got set to travel to Indianapolis for Sunday's game, Arnold was downgraded all the way to out.
Fellow rookie cornerback Ennis Rakestraw was also ruled out on Friday after showing up on the injury report with a hamstring issue.
Who will replace Terrion Arnold vs. Colts in Week 12?
Arnold has of course started all 10 games so far this season for the Lions, and he has played 91 percent of the defensive snaps (it would be more if not for three blowout wins).
Replacing Arnold on Sunday could be two-fold to some extent.
Emmanuel Moseley has been sidelined all season by the torn pectoral he suffered in August, but he is in line to activated from IR and make his season debut on Sunday. But it's fair to wonder how much action Moseley will see in his first game back.
Most likely to start on Sunday in Arnold's place is Kindle Vildor. Most of his defensive snaps this season have come in the aforementioned three blowouts (49 out of 72), as he has taken a rightful place as a core special teamer.
Vildor was forced into a starting role late last season, and even leaving out a big piece of bad luck (the Brandon Aiyuk play in the NFC Championship Game) he was not very good. Quite simply, a team with legit Super Bowl aspirations does not have Vildor as a starting corner and the Lions proved it with their offseason moves to push him down the depth chart.
The Lions will of course have a short week after Sunday's game before playing the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. So with the surprising late downgrade for this week, there's a real chance the short turnaround ends up costing Arnold a second game.