Lions rookie Terrion Arnold is learning and growing a month into the season

Along with Cowboys offensive lineman Tyler Guyton, Arnold is the third-most penalized player with five penalties three weeks into the season. Unfortunately, four of the five flags thrown against him were pass interferences – a league high.

Arnold said every pass interference call was the result of being too skilled, not because he was hit or was in the wrong position in coverage. Arnold and Townsend viewed every penalty as a learning experience. While most first-year defensive backs struggle with their footwork, Townsend’s goal was to teach Arnold how to use his hands – the most important adjustment defensive backs have to make when moving from college to the NFL.

“That’s the thing in the league – if you’re a DB and you played, you got a call from at least one PI.” Townsend said. “It’s the nature of the business. He just has to keep playing. That’s the only thing we have to keep doing: don’t worry about the penalties and just go play. I always joke and tell them, ‘You.’ “I can’t call 60 private investigators, so just stick around.” That’s what we want. He was close in a lot of coverage and that’s the most important thing. We want to continue to work on these little things and stay close in reporting.”

Arnold’s struggles early in the season weren’t discouraging for the Lions. After three games, Townsend believes Arnold has already proven why the Lions felt the need to trade up five spots in the first round of the draft. He played a crucial role in Detroit’s run defense, which allowed an average of 76.7 rushing yards. According to Pro Football Focus, Arnold had a run-defensive grade of 62.7 in 55 snaps.