On Wednesday, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell let it out of the bag that the Lions plan to do some shakeups when it comes to their cornerback position. When asked about some early struggles from second-year cornerback Terrion Arnold, Campbell said that starting nickel Amik Robertson may cut into his playing time this week against the Cleveland Browns.
“And, look, we’ll probably use Amik on some stuff, too. Amik’s a good player. So we’re going to mix it up a little bit,” Campbell told 97.1 The Ticket.
On Thursday, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard more or less confirmed this personnel shift. However, he noted that the change has more to do with getting Robertson on the field more than it does with any of Arnold’s perceived struggles.
“Has nothing to do with Terrion’s play or performance. Let me start there,” Sheppard said. “Amik has always earned his keep with me. 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 got so far. So we were doing this regardless.”
We suggested this could be part of the explanation back on Wednesday, noting that because the Lions are in base defense so often, it has resulted in Robertson playing in just 51 percent of defensive snaps so far this season.
Sheppard also defended Arnold’s play. The Lions defense prioritizes stopping the run—often utilizing their safeties to play a critical role in the box. That leaves their cornerbacks quite vulnerable with no over-the-top help.
“Everybody can point the finger at TA (Arnold), 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 percent of that game,” Sheppard said. “Now that’s no excuse. It’s just the job you signed up for. You signed that contract. As a corner in the NFL, you’re expected to do that. But let’s make no mistake about it—I told the d-line, ‘How would you like to go out there on an island while you guys are having fun here in the box knowing there’s nobody back there?’ So I want that to be said.”
Sheppard did acknowledge that Arnold needs to be better. While he believes Arnold’s mistakes get exposed more than players at other positions due to being on an island, the former first-round pick needs to do a better job at preventing explosive plays.
Arnold played with confidence and stickiness in training camp, and Sheppard is going to do everything he can to get his play back to where it was in August.
“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 with Jameson Williams and (Amon-Ra) St. Brown all camp to game day. That’s all we got to do, and as coaches, to help the player and find a way to get that done,” Sheppard said.
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