2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[MichiganCardinal]

11 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

I know that our justice system is based around innocent, until proven guilty. I understand Arnold has been convicted of nothing by a jury of his peers at this point. But the league as a whole, Commissioner Goodell, the Lions organization, Brad, and Dan would all be hypocrites letting him practice, let alone play. Terrion Arnold allegedly attempts to kidnap and assaults a guy and it could simply be a wait and see approach, while letting him play. I feel doing that would have this organization, front office, and coaching staff would lose all credibility when it comes to wanting high character, football loving guys on their team. As talented as Arnold may be, he cannot be allowed to play until this matter is resolved. He wasn't just accused of being Josh Gordon and smoking a few joints. He was accused of multiple, violent, heinous crimes. Until and unless he is cleared, he shouldn't be practicing or playing.

Have you had a chance to watch the hearing from this morning? Genuine question, I couldn't find a way to ask without it sounding snarky, but I'm genuinely not sure if Arnold has done anything wrong.

The case against Arnold is not airtight by any stretch of the imagination. Prosecutors are relying heavily on the word of two convicted felons, whose stories changed drastically after they were locked up and it became clear that the prosecution wanted a bigger fish, and that they were willing to give a more lenient sentences for it.

It wasn't just Arnold who was robbed and others who were robbed had more motive to do something like this. Arnold wasn't in the group chat. Arnold wasn't seen on the video call. The trial is going to ultimately come down to whether a jury believes the word of two convicted felons who have a lot to gain by this current version of events, enough to believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Arnold committed these extremely serious crimes. There are likely a lot of prosecutors who would not bring this case to a jury.

I also don't think it's as black-and-white as most other NFL cases. The Josh Gordon saga was stupid. But comparing Arnold to Cam Sutton, or Ray Rice, or Henry Ruggs, or Adrian Peterson, these facts are very different. Arnold isn't claiming a misunderstanding or that beating your children's mother is a "family matter." (Cam Sutton did). He's also not accused of being there during the robbery, he's accused of being a mastermind behind the scenes. He's claiming true innocence. And I see a world in which Arnold is telling the truth.

I don't know where the line needs to be drawn on being a "high character, football first" team. But it kind of feels like they're between a rock and a hard place. If they release him, or request he be put on the Commissioner's Exempt List, how do you walk that back if he's found not guilty? If they stand by him, how do you square that if he's found guilty? I don't think there's an easy answer here.

But, for what it's worth, it does seem like the Judge believes he should be able to play pending trial, or he wouldn't have both granted release and not ordered a GPS tether.

[Deleterious]

Did they just release Arnold?

[GalagaGuy]

 

[Motown Bombers]

Lions don’t **** around do they? 

[MichiganCardinal]

I don't know if I like the move to be honest. I get that it's their thing, and it's the moral high ground, but this feels very different from the Cam Sutton situation to me, where I fully supported his immediate release.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

12 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Lions don’t **** around do they? 

This answers my statement from earlier. They sent a clear and decisive message that they don't effff around and do indeed take their culture very seriously in Allen Park. 

[Motor City Sonics]

How long til the Raiders sign him?

[sagnam]

Oh boy, an already bad defense just got significantly worse.

 

Imagine Barry and Calvin being forced to pay back their signing bonus but Arnold gets to keep his!

[Hongbit]

Terrion may have grown into a player but he had very little impact on the field to this point.  The loss is all projected rather than anything proven.  

A tremendous opportunity just emerged for Ennis Rakestraw.   Let’s hope he can stay healthy and show something.  

[Jason_R]

2 minutes ago, sagnam said:

Oh boy, an already bad defense just got significantly worse.

 

Imagine Barry and Calvin being forced to pay back their signing bonus but Arnold gets to keep his!

I know nothing about the legal side of this and I assume the front office knows more than I do. From a football standpoint this is bad bad news. I know there were lots of frustrations with TA’s rep for being handy, but the fact of the matter is that when he left the lineup last season due to injury, the defense went downhill. Especially with question marks at both safety positions, this is not good. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I don't know if I like the move to be honest. I get that it's their thing, and it's the moral high ground, but this feels very different from the Cam Sutton situation to me, where I fully supported his immediate release.

Also possible Arnold made some representation(s) to the team about this that they have discovered is false, irrespective of what happened at the hearing or even his ultimate legal culpability.

Edited June 29 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

welp, two years ago they made it to the nfc championship game with an all-waiver wire secondary, sounds like we'll have to do that again this year.

[Motown Bombers]

46 minutes ago, sagnam said:

Oh boy, an already bad defense just got significantly worse.

 

Imagine Barry and Calvin being forced to pay back their signing bonus but Arnold gets to keep his!

The Lions didn't hold up their end of the agreement so yes Arnold keeps the signing bonus. If the Lions cut Sanders or Johnson they both would have kept their signing bonuses. 

[Motown Bombers]

4 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Also possible Arnold made some representation(s) to the team about this that they have discovered is false, irrespective of what happened at the hearing or even his ultimate legal culpability.

Campbell indicated that after speaking with Arnold they felt good about him. It seems like that has changed. 

[sagnam]

Reading that there is a chance the Lions can use conduct to avoid paying anything else.

 

Results last year seemed to show he was a net positive. Going to be hard to find a replacement player or better now.

 

Really feels like the magic of a few years ago is fading.

[Motown Bombers]

People need to get a grip. This is still one of the most talented rosters in the league.

[Jason_R]

With their starting defensive secondary, and the injury luck they have had with the defense during the season in the past few years, they might have to score over 500 points again just to make the playoffs. 

[buddha]

55 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

With their starting defensive secondary, and the injury luck they have had with the defense during the season in the past few years, they might have to score over 500 points again just to make the playoffs. 

injuries and brad holmes' inability to find good cornerbacks have really killed them.

if their oline can hold up this year, thry should still be able to outscore teams.  hopefully.

[NorthWoods]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

Also possible Arnold made some representation(s) to the team about this that they have discovered is false, irrespective of what happened at the hearing or even his ultimate legal culpability.

I read a story somewhere today that seemed to think he had a better than 50/50 shot to get acquitted.   This after listening to the preliminary hearing.  

Regardless I think Lions have simply seen and heard enough.  

[KL2]

4 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

This answers my statement from earlier. They sent a clear and decisive message that they don't effff around and do indeed take their culture very seriously in Allen Park. 

I don’t think you make that argument since he was arrested what four days ago. Not effing around or sending a decisive message would have been that day or the next.

 

they released him cause he got let out on bail and they didn’t want him at their facility

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

People need to get a grip. This is still one of the most talented rosters in the league.

Agreed. And get enough pressure on the QB and our secondary will be fine.

[Sports_Freak]

4 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

This answers my statement from earlier. They sent a clear and decisive message that they don't effff around and do indeed take their culture very seriously in Allen Park. 

I wonder if Arnold actually played like a 1st round pick if they would have still released him? He really struggled in coverage.

[sagnam]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

injuries and brad holmes' inability to find good cornerbacks have really killed them.

if their oline can hold up this year, thry should still be able to outscore teams.  hopefully.

Also have to hope giving Gibbs even as little as 1.5x the workload doesn’t cause extra wear and tear.

[Jason_R]

12 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

I wonder if Arnold actually played like a 1st round pick if they would have still released him? He really struggled in coverage.

The team’s coverage got markedly worse without him. 

But some comments Shep made recently about him seemed to indicate that they were ready for TA to grow up. Not clear what was happening behind the scenes but even at the time it seemed they saw a bit of immaturity that was wearing on them. 

[Jason_R]

10 hours ago, sagnam said:

Also have to hope giving Gibbs even as little as 1.5x the workload doesn’t cause extra wear and tear.

I looked this up a few months ago, but basically what happened in their amazing 2024 season was that the offense was so efficient they ended up with well over 100 more carries that season than they had in 2025. Gibbs’s workload basically stayed the same but most of the lost carries went against Montgomery. Maybe they will try to give Gibbs a few more carries, but I suspect they will use him about the same as a RB but mix him more into the passing game. Pacheco will take the leftovers.