Now that cornerback Terrion Arnold is close to being under contract again with an NFL team, the next question is whether the NFL will exercise its prerogative to place him on paid leave.
Arnold faces eight felony charges arising from a February 2026 armed robbery and kidnapping. If convicted, Arnold could be imprisoned for life.
The Seahawks nevertheless agreed to terms with him on Thursday, at a time when multiple other teams were interested.
Arnold was also officially arraigned on Thursday, by Zoom. He’s due to appear in court for his next hearing, on October 5.
The next move will be up to the league office. He could be placed on the Commissioner Exempt list immediately. Or the NFL could wait to do it until the end of the preseason. Or the NFL could choose to not do it at all.
During the latest episode of Hard Knocks, Seahawks G.M. John Schneider told coach Mike Macdonald that assistant G.M. Joey Schneider believes Arnold will be permitted to play in the preseason. This indicates an awareness of the very real possibility that the league will put Arnold on paid leave before Week 1, when the Seahawks host the Patriots in the opening game of the 2026 regular season.
Given the risk that Arnold will end up on paid leave, it’s fair to wonder why the Seahawks are rolling the dice on a player who had two so-so seasons after being a first-round pick of the Lions in 2024. If the juice was worth the squeeze, why would the Lions have cut him?
Throw in the fact that the Seahawks could have a new owner in less than two weeks, and it seems like the possibility of an embarrassment outweighs the potential benefit to the team..
Then again, a Super Bowl win gives a team a large stack of chips. As one source with another team put it, “They won and they don’t care.”
It’s also a chance to get an up-close look at Arnold (pending placement on paid leave), in the event he eventually beats the charges and is able to return to the NFL.
Still, barring a sudden decision by the prosecution to dismiss all charges, the decision to sign Arnold is a head-scratcher. As Simms said on Thursday’s PFT Live, it could be a product of the simple reality that former first-round picks, like cats, often have nine lives. The more pressing question for Arnold is whether he’ll spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.
Seahawks Clips
Free agent cornerback Terrion Arnold has agreed to terms with the Seahawks, according to multiple reports.
Arnold worked out for the Seahawks on Sunday and also had visits to the Texans, Saints and Giants.
The NFL now must decide whether to place Arnold on the Commissioner’s Exempt List. The third-year player faces four felony counts each of armed robbery and kidnapping.
In the second episode of Hard Knocks, the Seahawks indicated they believe Arnold will be allowed to practice and play in the preseason.
The Lions waived Arnold on June 29 following his arrest in Florida.
His arraignment, scheduled for Thursday, was handled earlier on Zoom, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. His next scheduled court date is a status hearing on Oct. 5 at which he is required to appear in person in Tampa.
The Lions drafted Arnold in the first round in 2024, and he played 24 games with 22 starts over two seasons. He has totaled 91 tackles, an interception and 18 pass breakups.
Twelve years after Steve Ballmer bought the L.A. Clippers for an eye-popping (at the time) $2 billion, the other Los Angeles NBA team is going for $10.5 billion more.
Via Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Bob Iger and Josh Kushner will purchase a controlling interest in the Lakers at a record valuation of $12.5 billion, just 14 months after Mark Walter acquired the team at a valuation of $10 billion.
Iger and Kushner had previously expressed interest in acquiring an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas.
Walter, per Shelburne, is currently under federal investigation for tax fraud. It’s unclear whether that specific situation prompted him to flip the team so quickly.
The news comes just weeks after a group led by Vinod Khosla agreed to buy the Seahawks for $9.612 billion, shattering the prior record ($6.05 billion) for controlling interest in an NFL franchise. It’s surprising that a team in the lesser pro sports league would sell for nearly $3 billion more.
Yes, it’s the Lakers. Which invites speculation as to the price the Cowboys would fetch, if they were on the market. Would America’s Team go for $15 billion? $20 billion?
Regardless, the Lakers have now sold twice in less than a year and a half for a higher price than any NFL team has ever generated.
The second episode of Hard Knocks featuring the Seahawks (which was grossly overhyped as potentially the best episode in series history) included multiple references to the team’s recent workout of former Lions first-round cornerback Terrion Arnold.
There was no mention of the specific extent of the off-field problem Arnold is facing — life in prison for alleged armed robbery and kidnapping.
The show included a conversation between G.M. John Schneider and assistant G.M. Joey Schneider. In discussing the potential ramifications of signing Arnold, they danced around the allegations, calling it an “outstanding thing.” John Schneider openly wondered about similar situations that may have arisen in the past.
During a conversation between John Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald, the G.M. said he spoke to former Alabama teammate Jalen Milroe about Arnold. Per Schneider, Milroe said “this place would be awesome for” Arnold.
John Schneider also said of Arnold, “Joey thinks he is going to be able to play in the preseason.”
That’s a coin toss at best, in our view. Given the gravity of the pending charges, the NFL’s first move if/when Arnold is signed could be to put him on the Commissioner Exempt list.
The episode concluded with footage of Arnold’s workout, under this narration from Liev Schreiber: “Mike Macdonald has questions. Will Arnold make the team better? And equally important, does he understand the culture and what Seattle is building?”
The far more important question is whether the Seahawks will ultimately end up paying Arnold to not play, if he’s signed and then promptly placed on paid leave until his criminal case is resolved.
With new ownership arriving soon (the vote on Vinod Khosla’s bid is set for August 26), it’s hardly an ideal time for the coaching staff and the front office to have the first impression consist of an unforced error.
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon has not been able to come to an agreement on a contract extension with the Seahawks, but he hasn’t let that impact his training camp participation this summer.
Witherspoon has been practicing with the team without any limitations and he explained his mindset to reporters on Tuesday. He said that he is “out here to focus on making plays and trying to get better day by day” because of the need to be ready to go for the regular season whether or not the contract gets done.
“We got a long season ahead of us, contract or not,” Witherspoon said, via the team’s website. “We still got to play football at the end of the day. We have to be out there and be prepared. If you’re not practicing, you’re not getting ready for the season because everybody else in the league is practicing and they’re getting better. That’s where my mind is at right now. I’m focused on what I need to do right now, I’m not really worried about anything else.”
Witherspoon’s push for a new deal was linked to Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez’s bid for one of his own earlier this summer because the two corners share an agent and are looking to be the highest-paid player at the position. Witherspoon was said to be further along at that time, but both players still have some work to do before they sign on the dotted line.
The Seahawks have made a pair of roster moves.
Seattle announced the club has signed linebacker Aaron Smith and placed fullback Robbie Ouzts on injured reserve.
Smith entered the league as an undrafted free agent last year and spent the season with the Jets practice squad.
Ouzts appeared in 12 games with two starts last season as a rookie last year. His current injury has not been disclosed, but he’s now set to be out for all of 2026.
The Seahawks are getting a significant boost back on defense.
Seattle announced on Tuesday that safety Nick Emmanwori has passed his physical after beginning training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
Emmanwori has been recovering from offseason ankle surgery after helping Seattle defeat New England in Super Bowl LX.
While Emmanwori participated in Seattle’s offseason program, he and the team decided to have a procedure done on his ankle for a better long-term outlook.
Emmanwori finished No. 2 in AP defensive rookie of the year voting after recording 11 passes defensed, 2.5 sacks, nine tackles for loss, and an interception in 14 games.
The Seahawks launch their preseason on Saturday night with a visit from the Cowboys. One key aspect of the planning process will be the division of quarterback reps.
On Monday, coach Mike Macdonald addressed the issue, from the perspective of the playing time for backups Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe.
“We’re working through that right now,” Macdonald told reporters. “We might take a different approach this year on how we play our quarterbacks. Drew needs game work too. Everybody needs work, so how do you do it? Even Sam [Darnold]. What’s the smartest thing for him to get ready to play the season and our team, as well as those guys? . . . [W]e’re finding it out. We’ll find out on Saturday.”
The shift in the regular season from 16 games to 17 games, along with the shrinkage of the preseason from four games to three, has created a much wider range of decisions as to the distribution of reps in exhibition games.
Regardless, the overriding goal is to get the first-stringers ready for the first game. That includes balancing the rewards of preparation with the risks of injury — especially since quarterbacks don’t wear red “no-touch” jerseys during preseason games.
Free agent cornerback Terrion Arnold worked out for the Seahawks on Sunday.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald was asked about Arnold’s visit as the third-year player faces four felony counts each of armed robbery and kidnapping.
“It’s enough right now that we had him in for a great visit, a great tryout,” Macdonald said Monday, via video from Brian Nemhauser of Hawk Blogger. “It’s a situation where there are other things that are surrounding it as well, and we’re aware of. We are working through the situation right now. But it was a great visit, and I really enjoyed meeting him. I think he enjoyed being here, so we will see how it goes.
“We are going to do our diligence. There are a lot of people in Terrion’s corner that we respect as to the type of guy he is. We are going to work through that, and I trust our people to make the best decision for us. We also think that this is a great place to come work, too, and that people can be the best version of themselves if given the opportunity.”
Arnold, who the Lions cut June 29 following his arrest, is scheduled for his arraignment this week.
First, though, Arnold will work out for the Saints on Tuesday. He previously met with the Texans and has drawn interest from the Colts and Jets.
The Lions drafted Arnold in the first round in 2024, and he played 24 games with 22 starts in two seasons. He has totaled 91 tackles, an interception and 18 pass breakups.
In lieu of making a broad effort to get NFL owners to convert artificial turf fields to high-quality grass, the NFL Players Association should focus on attempting to persuade specific teams to do it.
There’s now even more reason to do so. Incoming owner Vinod Khosla has opened the door to making the change.
Responding to the question of whether he would install grass at Lumen Field, Khosla said this over the weekend on Twitter, via Sofia Schwarzwalder of the Seattle Times: “I’d defer to people at the [Seahawks] who know better than me. The team that got us the Super Bowl.”
Appearing Monday on CNBC, Khosla reiterated his online message. “That’s for management to decide, not for me to decide,” Khosla said, per Schwarzwalder.
If he’s talking about the players, we already know what they’d overwhelmingly say. At the outset of camp, veterans Cooper Kupp and Leonard Williams made their feelings known.
And there’s no reason for the coaching staff or front office to disagree. They’re not the ones paying for it. The owners are. If Khosla is willing to cut the check for high-quality grass, it’s a no-brainer for everyone else in the organization.
