Detroit's defense stood out during Monday's training camp practice at the Meijer Performance Center and second-year cornerback Terrion Arnold was right in the middle of the action all day.
Arnold made a number of plays in both team and 7-on-7 portions of practice, letting his counterparts on offense know about it, too.
Arnold has always been a confident player, even early on as a rookie, but there's a greater level of confidence that comes with being in his second season and already having playing time under his belt. Arnold had a nice start to training camp and that's a great sign for Detroit's defense.
"I got experience now," Arnold said after practice Monday. "I pride myself on going out there and trying to get the ball. It doesn't happen overnight. You have to trust the process and I'm staying down for it."
Arnold was a starter from Day 1 at one of the outside cornerback spots after the team selected him 24th overall in last year's NFL Draft. He ended up starting 15 games and after some early penalty issues, really played some good ball down the stretch. Teams completed just 55.6 percent of the passes thrown his way as a rookie.
The Lions are expecting Arnold to take a big leap in Year 2. Arnold is hoping for the same thing, including more ball production. He recorded 60 tackles (47 solo) and had 10 passes defended but is still looking for his first career interception in the NFL.
"It's coming," he said. "Once you get one, they just start coming. I watched tape every day (this offseason) thinking about the plays I could have made and I'm one of those guys who just wants to be a perfectionist. You chase perfection you won't fall short of it."
Arnold is expected to play a big part in the Lions' secondary, which could be one of the strengths of this football team.
NEXT STEP FOR HOOKER
Third-year quarterback Hendon Hooker took second-team reps Monday after running the third-team offense behind Jared Goff and Kyle Allen in Sunday's first practice of training camp.
Hooker and Allen are competing to be Goff's backup during the regular season, a job Hooker had for the regular season last year but was moved to an emergency quarterback role in the playoffs as the Lions opted for more experience signing Teddy Bridgwater for their playoff run.
Heading into his third season it seems like a critical camp for Hooker to prove to coaches that they can trust him being the next man up in any situation.
"Look Hooker knows the deal," head coach Dan Campbell said Monday. "You're out here to compete. We gave him some things to do while he was home - talking about working on a little bit of the urgency, the footwork, certainly continue training. And look, it's only one day, but I liked what I saw out there (Sunday) - there was some urgency.
"I thought his footwork was on, I thought he was spitting the plays out. But there again, that's Day 1, but he knows what it is - he knows it's time to take the next step, and so it's his move. I think he's wired right and it means something to him, and so here we go man, open camp."
Hooker had a really nice practice Monday running the second-team offense. He made plays in both team and 7-on-7 periods and showed really good command of John Morton's offense.
EXTRA POINT
After leaving practice early Sunday with a chest injury, Campbell said second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. didn't suffer a significant injury.
"Should be okay, everything came back negative," he said. "Certainly, he's sore. He'll be out a few days here, just to let him recover. Structurally, everything looks pretty good."
