Terrion Arnold's benching about wanting to get Amik Robertson more involved, Lions DC says

The Detroit Lions are giving Terrion Arnold a chance to reset.

Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard confirmed what coach Dan Campbell hinted at this week, that Amik Robertson will play a more prominent role at outside cornerback starting with Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns and his snaps will come at Arnold's expense.

Sheppard insisted the change "has nothing to do with Terrion’s play or performance" and is due to wanting to get Robertson more involved on defense.

Robertson has played primarily as the Lions' slot cornerback through three games, with Arnold starting opposite D.J. Reed at outside corner. The Lions lead the league in snaps played out of their base defense, according to TruMedia, which has limited Robertson's playing time.

Last year, Robertson started at slot corner and moved outside late in the year, where he played well after Carlton Davis III suffered a season-ending broken jaw. In the Lions' division-clinching Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings, Robertson drew the primary coverage assignment on Justin Jefferson and helped hold the All-Pro receiver to three catches for 54 yards.

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Sheppard did not specify how the Lions will use Robertson and Arnold on Sunday against the Browns.

"Amik has always earned his keep with me," Sheppard said. "I saw it last year. That’s a player that’s earned the right to be on the field. And just with the frequency of base defense that we’re playing right now, he’s losing snaps. And to be honest, he’s earned more than what he’s gotten so far. So we were doing this regardless."

Robertson's play aside, Arnold has struggled in his second season after the Lions traded up to take him with the 24th pick in the 2024 draft.

He's allowed the second most receiving yards (236) in the NFL through three games, according to the NFL’s Next Gen stats, and has a team-worst 130.1 passer rating against. In last week's win over the Baltimore Ravens, Arnold allowed his second touchdown of the year and committed his second pass interference penalty.

"It’s not like this kid, I’m down on T.A. or T.A.’s having a bad year, that’s not it," Sheppard said. "We’re talking a few plays, but when you play out there, those few plays get exposed and highlighted a lot more than it does (at defensive line). The interior D-line might have gotten reached five, six, seven times, the same amount of times he’s gotten beat on the perimeter but nobody’s puitting that in the tabloids. Because it’s not seen and exposed like a corner.

"So it’s just growing pains. This kid’s very young. I don’t know, what is he, 22? He’s very young and he’s still in the developmental stages. All we have to do right now is find a way to bring the confidence that we saw when you were out there against Jameson Williams and (Amon-Ra) St. Brown all camp, to gameday. That’s all we got to do and it’s our job as coaches to help the player and find a way to get that done."

Coming off a rocky rookie season, Arnold had a strong training camp this summer and seemed poised for a breakout second year after Lions general manager Brad Holmes said in late August he "made a great jump from what he showed" in 2024.

Sheppard credited Arnold and the rest of the Lions secondary for helping shut down the Ravens' running game last week with their pass coverage.

"Everybody can point the finger at T.A., but you know why we were able to knock out the run game? Because he was playing with no help behind him, for probably 50% of that game," Sheppard said.

And he said he believes Arnold can benefit from having a reduced role.

"Not only that, just time on task," Sheppard said. "Just keep going. Just go out there, believe in yourself and understand. And I tell him all the time, you’re on an island. You may get beat. But it just can’t be busts, it can’t be big gains and things like that. It’s the NFL, corners are going to get beat, man. It is what it is. It’s our job as coaches to find a way to help this player continue to develop and do the things we saw him do all training camp."

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions CB Terrion Arnold having 'growing pains,' will see reduced role