Film Room: Terrion Arnold, a versatile cornerback with excellent ball skills

Widely considered the top CB in the draft class

While quarterback will be the Las Vegas Raiders’ primary focus in the first round of the NFL Draft, trading up to get one will be difficult. Also, the Raiders might be better off sitting back and seeing how the board falls in front of them as they have plenty of other needs, including at cornerback.

Alabama’s Terrion Arnold is widely considered the top corner in this year’s draft class, due in part to his impressive ball skills. According to Pro Football Focus, Arnold’s 13 pass breakups last season were tied for the fifth-most at the position in college football, and his five interceptions were tied for third.

What makes those figures even more impressive is the Alabama product did it while showing off some versatility, taking 557 snaps as a wide corner and 205 over the slot. Also, he proved to be an excellent run defender with an elite 90.5 PFF grade that ranked third among FBS corners and logged 10 defensive stops against the run, a top 20 mark.

Overall, Arnold can be a ball-hawking corner who doesn’t take plays off against the ground game, both of which his film supports.

We’ll start with a couple of plays against the run.

Here, Ole Miss comes out in a two-tight end set with both tight ends on Arnold’s side of the formation, forcing him to play in the box like a strong safety or linebacker. They also put the slot receiver on a jet motion toward him, a strong indication that the offense is targeting him with a run play.

Post-snap, Arnold reads the play design and works for width to put himself in a position to defend the run and either force the ball carrier to cut inside where the rest of the defense is or make the play himself. That plus a quick trigger downhill allows him to beat the blocker to the spot.

To finish, the corner gets his pads down, wraps up and makes a nice physical tackle right at the line of scrimmage to keep this play to a one-yard gain.

In this next play, Arnold is in press coverage against a slot receiver who is naturally a tight end and is in a reduced split right next to the right tackle. So, the corner is playing more like a standup outside linebacker, which is the matchup the offense wants in the running game.

However, Arnold gets physical with the tight end and does a great job of using his hands to take on the block. That allows him to set the edge and force the running back to cut up into the teeth of the defense for a short gain. Essentially, he makes the play without making the play.

This is a pretty impressive rep from a guy who was listed below 200 pounds last season.

Ole Miss tried to do this a few times to Arnold where they’d get a one-on-one matchup against him in the boundary and throw a fade to see if the wideout could go up and get it. However, that strategy didn’t work out well.

Now, I would like to see Arnold stay a little more patient at the line of scrimmage as he opens his hips a little quickly, which can be an issue against a cross-over release by the wide receiver. But everything else about the rep is pretty much perfect.

He matches the receiver’s speed, uses his hands to help stay in phase, looks and locates the ball at the same time the receiver does, and finishes by high-pointing the ball in the air to get a pass breakup. This is how 50/50 passes start shifting in the defense’s favor.

This is almost the same play as the last one, just in a different area of the field, and the result is the same. Again, Arnold matches the wideout’s speed, uses his hands to help stay in phase, locates the ball and goes up to make a play on it to get another PBU. He has a knack for batting passes out of the air.

We’ll get a look at one of the Alabama product’s interceptions here.

The Crimson Tide are running a double-bracket coverage where he has help to the inside and underneath, meaning he just needs to maintain outside leverage and stay on top of the receiver. That’s why he works for width and is comfortable giving up the inside against a post route.

For some reason, the quarterback decides to throw it anyway and the pass is well off target. However, Arnold tracks the ball and accelerates well to take advantage of the poor throw and make an interception. Then, after the catch, he adds a few more yards by making one guy miss and putting a nasty spin move on another for a little flare at the end.

Our last clip is a mixture of a good and bad rep.

Arnold is over the slot this time and covering a slot fade route. He bites on the receiver’s jab step or fake to the inside and ends up getting beat deep. However, the corner doesn’t quit on the play, has the makeup speed to contest the catch and plays the hands at the catch point to force the incompletion.

Also, he’s smart to avoid looking back at the quarterback or trying to locate the ball in the air when not in phase as that would have just slowed him down.

Granted, I do think this play highlights something Arnold needs to work on as he can get caught being too aggressive and trying to jump routes, and an underthrown pass is what invites him back into the play here. But there’s something to be said about him not giving up on the rep and great ball skills can help overcome missteps in coverage.