Allen Park — Two months ago, after establishing the team’s initial 53-man roster for the upcoming season, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes bristled following a series of questions about his cornerback depth.
The heart of the inquiries was whether the team had done enough to insure itself against former first-round pick Terrion Arnold’s alleged offseason transgressions, which had led to his release when it was determined he would stand trial for multiple felony charges.
With each answer, Holmes echoed an overriding sentiment: “We like the guys we have in the room right now.”
In a modern game of social media telephone, that morphed into something shorter, easier to be derisively parroted on social media and talk radio.
“We like our guys.”
And as the Lions’ secondary got lit up through the first four games, and coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was forced to shuffle the cornerback deck a couple of times, the parroting grew louder.
Several weeks later, with Sheppard finding a better mix, and his unit playing closer to expectations, Holmes doubled down on his words from September through his actions at the trade deadline, declining to make a move to address the position where there’s justifiably lingering skepticism.