Former first-round pick Terrion Arnold was officially waived on Wednesday. The other 31 teams have until 4:00 p.m. ET on Monday, July 6, to put in a claim for the balance of his contract.
Earlier in the day, Arnold’s criminal case will return to the docket for a hearing on whether, given his release by the Lions, he’ll be required to wear an ankle monitor while on home confinement pending trial.
Via Mark Inabinett of AL.com, the written opposition to the prosecution’s motion contains a somewhat surprising claim.
Attorney Harvey Steinberg informed the court that Arnold expects to join a new NFL team “within 30 days.”
“Although Mr. Arnold has been released by the Detroit Lions organization, he already has been contacted by three other NFL clubs regarding his services,” Steinberg wrote.
It’s hard to imagine any team claiming the balance of Arnold’s guaranteed first-round contract on waivers. The NFL could put him on paid leave before the opening of training camp, which would require Arnold’s new team to pay him until the criminal case is resolved.
And if the Lions released Arnold for “personal conduct that adversely affected” the team, which would avoid the guarantees, the team that claims him on waivers wouldn’t have that luxury. Cutting Arnold after claiming the contract on waivers would mean owing him the full amount of the remaining compensation ($4.848 million).
There’s a rule of thumb in some league circles that a generalized claim of teams having interest in a player — without the teams being identified — could be puffery aimed at generating interest in the player. But it’s one thing for the agent to leak such a contention to a tweet-happy insider. It’s quite another for an officer of the court to make that representation in a signed, written document.
It sets the stage for a potentially interesting hearing on Monday. The judge may ask Steinberg, point-blank, to name the teams or to submit tangible proof of interest. The judge may ask Steinberg about the possibility of Arnold being placed on paid leave.
In the end, this one seems fairly simple. The judge was reluctant to excuse Arnold from wearing an ankle monitor. The deciding factor presumably was the reality that Arnold would be practicing and playing football for the Lions. If so, the ruling should be that Arnold must wear the monitor until he’s signed by a team and the contract is submitted to the court.
Then, if/when he’s released again (or if he is placed on paid leave), the monitor would be reattached.
For now, the question is whether another team will make a claim for Arnold on waivers. If that doesn’t happen, he’ll land in the pool of available free agents. And the question for any interested team would be whether his potential value as a player is outweighed by the other issues that having him on the roster would bring to the table.
