Now healthy coming off ACL tears in back-to-back seasons, Emmanuel Moseley hopes to have a bigger role in the Detroit Lions' secondary.
During the offseason, the Lions beefed up the position, with rookies Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw coming in after the acquisition of veterans Carlton Davis and Amik Robertson.
The rookies are coming into an NFL camp for the first time, and could be facing a significant learning curve as they do. Already, Moseley has watched both his young teammates step up meaningfully. He is particularly impressed with Arnold.
"They're cool guys. Like I was saying about Terrion (Arnold), he's probably the most confident, humble guy that I know. He's very, very confident. His swagger on the field is great, but he's humble. He wants to come to you in the meeting room. He wants to learn. He takes criticism really, really well and they're just both doing a good job. They're participating in special teams, they're coming in grinding and know what it takes to win."
It seems Rakestraw and Arnold have fit right in.
Emmanuel Moseley sees benefits of Detroit Lions' loaded defensive back room
While depth at cornerback might put playing time at a premium, it also increases the likelihood that the Lions will have multiple players who are able to step up and play well. That would be a notable difference from 2023.
Instead of worrying about what that might do to his own role, Moseley is instead choosing to focus on the positive of a deep cornerback depth chart.
"I think it breeds excellence. If you don't have a DB room with a lot of players in there that can compete, it's probably not going to be a really good DB room. I think we have (a good room) this year and everyone is out there competing. Not only are we competing, we're celebrating with each other. We're happy for each other's success and that plays a big part."
Overall, Moseley feels as if the Lions have the right attitude, a proper mix of bluster and humility to help them get after it on the field and then find the key improvements they need to elevate their game.
"It's just a confident room that's going to bring a lot of swagger. Once we step on the field, we feel like we're the best. But we're also humble enough to go in the meeting room, take criticism and bring it the next day."
Arnold and Rakestraw are quickly stepping up and showing the traits that made them appealing to the Lions in the draft. Moseley is not the only one to notice, but when a teammate notices it has a different layer of meaning.