Seahawks signing Terrion Arnold amid legal issues
Published in Football
SEATTLE — The Seahawks are signing free agent cornerback Terrion Arnold, a source confirmed to The Seattle Times, after he had what coach Mike Macdonald called “a great tryout” with the team Sunday.
The NFL Network reported that it is a one-year deal.
Arnold was waived by the Detroit Lions in June after he was charged with eight felonies in connection to an alleged kidnapping and robbery incident in February in Tampa, Fla. He could face life in prison if convicted of the charges.
Arnold, who through his representatives has denied all allegations, initially had an arraignment set for Thursday in Tampa.
However, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough (Fla.) District Attorney told The Seattle Times the arraignment was held via Zoom earlier during a court hearing on Aug. 6. Arnold submitted a written plea of not guilty of all charges on July 31.
His next court date is a status hearing at 9 a.m. Oct. 5 in Tampa. That will be the day after the Seahawks host the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Lions selected Arnold with the 24th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft out of Alabama. He played in 24 regular-season games for Detroit the past two years and one playoff game. He was limited to just eight games last season while battling injuries and was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 1 due to a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery.
Arnold had been perceived as likely to be in a competition to retain his starting job with the Lions before being released.
But his age — he’s just 23 — and the potential that made him an All-American his final year at Alabama in 2023 made him still intriguing to teams despite his legal issues.
Arnold visited with the Houston Texans shortly after his release by the Lions. He then had visits with the Seahawks on Sunday, New Orleans on Tuesday and the New York Giants on Wednesday before agreeing to a deal with Seattle.
A brief scene of his workout Sunday was shown on “Hard Knocks” Tuesday night. Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald on Monday confirmed the team’s interest in Arnold.
“It’s a situation where there’s other things surrounding it as well, we’re aware of that,” Macdonald said. “We’re working through the situation right now. I enjoyed meeting him, and he enjoyed being here. We’ll see how it goes.”
Macdonald said the team would do the research necessary to feel comfortable about bringing Arnold in.
“We’re going to do our due diligence,” Macdonald said. “There’s a lot of people in Terrion’s (Arnold) corner that we respect in terms of the type of guy he is. We’re going to work through all of that, and I trust our people to make the best decision for us. We also think this is a great place to come work, too, and that people can be the best version of themselves if given the opportunity. Works both ways.”
Arnold is alleged to have planned and orchestrated a revenge plot that involved beating and kidnapping three men he believed had stolen $100,000 in cash as well as other items such as expensive bags and watches from an Airbnb in Largo, Fla.
A news release from the Florida state attorney’s office stated specifically that “Arnold is accused of coordinating and directing the (six) co-defendants to lure three men to an apartment where the victims were robbed, beaten and held at gunpoint.”
The release stated further that Arnold “orchestrated the kidnapping and robbery just hours after reporting the missing items to the Largo (Fla.) Police Department.” However, investigators later determined that the victims in the kidnapping case were not involved in the robbery.
Arnold earlier posted a $1 million bond and a judge ruled he did not have to wear a GPS ankle monitor, making him free to travel and pursue work-related opportunities.
That appears to make Arnold immediately available — Seahawks general manager John Schneider said during “Hard Knocks” Tuesday that the team believed he would be available to play in the preseason.
However, Arnold could still be subject to being placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and not allowed to play or practice for an indefinite amount of time (during which he would not count against the 53-man roster limit).
Macdonald acknowledged Monday there was uncertainty in when and how much Arnold will be available to play this season.
“I think we understand that anything’s on the table, and that’s where we’re at in the process,” Macdonald said then.
Seattle second-year quarterback Jalen Milroe, who played with Arnold at Alabama for three seasons, was referenced in “Hard Knocks” as vouching for Arnold to Schneider.
Meeting with reporters before practice Thursday, Milroe reiterated his support of Arnold.
“That’s my best friend,” he said. “Like I can hype him up a lot, but man, I really hope he can come here. He could definitely be a difference-maker for us.”
Asked what Arnold would bring to the Seahawks, Milroe said:
“I’ll say number one, he’s gonna give us everything he’s got. You know, of course, being with him at Alabama, the amount of passion that he plays with, how smart he is, how detail-oriented he is. I think something that’s unique about him is that he can do everything, whether it’s being a man corner, whether it’s traveling and playing man, whether it’s playing his own, pressing (at the line). Like he’s diverse.”
Also in Arnold’s corner was defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Karl Scott, who helped recruit Arnold to Alabama as an assistant in 2020 (Scott left before Arnold played for the Tide).
Arnold played mostly outside cornerback during his two seasons with Detroit. Seattle has set starters at its two outside spots in its base defense in Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe, who was a teammate of Arnold’s at Alabama in 2021.
But the rest of the cornerback situation appears more in flux. Third-year player Nehemiah Pritchett has appeared to take hold of the third cornerback spot in the nickel defense, generally playing on the outside in that alignment with Witherspoon moving inside, the same role that Riq Woolen held last season.
The Seahawks drafted Julian Neal out of Arkansas in the third round to compete for that spot. But he has not practiced since the first week of training camp in July due to an unspecified injury — he was again not on the field during Thursday’s practice at the VMAC. Seattle also signed free agent Noah Igbinoghene to compete for the third sport.
Once he arrives, Arnold will join that competition, if not also given the chance to compete with his old college teammate Jobe.
On Monday, Macdonald said the team’s interest was not a statement on what it feels about the rest of its cornerback room but instead was simply an attempt to add a good player who could help.
“I have a ton of confidence in our defensive back room,” Macdonald said. “This is a situation of; we’re in everything all the time. We’re always trying to make our team the best we can make it and whether or not Terrion (Arnold) ends up here or works out or it doesn’t, we’ll keep on rolling the way we know how.”
Now Arnold is set to become a Seahawk.
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