Prospect Profile: Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama

Context

Plays the outside CB mainly but has spent some time in the slot against the opposition’s most dangerous receiver.

Coverage

He has excellent line of scrimmage skills and works especially well in press. He is exceptional in soft press; he has elite footwork to match angles and he reads the receiver’s intentions. He has outstanding reactive athleticism and is rarely, if ever, beaten off the line in this scenario. He is patient, he doesn’t over-commit, and when the receiver does commit, he can use his explosion and the oiliest of hips to stay in phase through the early portion of the route. When pressing with a jam, he can use his length to his advantage and severely disrupt the route, keeping receivers pinned to the line of scrimmage or to the sideline.

In off coverage he can give up separation to elite receivers who can effectively attack leverage and get into his blind spot. When in bail he’s able to read route progressions and the QB and break on the football. He has outstanding awareness as a Zone defender. Against the very best competition, he can give up separation from bail and off on 90 degree underneath routes when protecting a lead and keeping everything in front of them, but even here he competes with his processing and explosion. In man coverage, he’s able to mirror a Wide Receiver in confined spaces and is almost always in phase. His transitions are smooth, yet explosive. Against hard-angle routes he can use his explosion to stay in phase, against vertical routes, speed cuts or square cuts, his hip mobility, acceleration and speed keep him close at all times. He does have an infrequent habit of giving an extra yard of cushion in reaction to a break – he bows his own path slightly away from the WR; this isn’t consistent against any particular type of break and is rare but something to watch at the next level.

He can also bite on pivot routes and double moves but he recovers quickly with his hips and his speed. Other than those two particular circumstances, he’s always in phase in man coverage, he processes at a high level and reads the WRs hips, opponents must be technically excellent to have any chance at gaining separation. He will also compete with physicality at the break-point; it’s tough to disengage from him using play strength. His length is also an advantage for his ball skills, where his elite timing and placement allow him to get to balls that he has no right to break up. If he has given up some separation at the break-point, his aggression, explosion and ball skills can allow him to frequently recover and still prevent a reception.

Run Support

You’d like to see him more aggressive as a force player and look to constrict running lanes, as well as trigger the run more quickly in general. He will take on much bigger ball carriers and bring them down by throwing his body at them.

SUMMARY
Elite starting outside CB, high processor so will be scheme diverse but will work best as a press CB. Great length, hip mobility, speed and explosion. Almost never out of phase, elite ball skills

PRODUCTION 
SO: 50 To.Tackles, 1 Sack, 3 Hurries, 5 INT, 13 PBU, 1 FF
FR: 35 To.Tackles, 1 INT, 7 PBUs
Injury: Concussion (SO)

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 5
Intelligence 4
Versatility 4
Grit 4
Scheme 5