The Seattle Seahawks didn't go into signing cornerback Terrion Arnold lightly. The player has major legal issues off the field, and that could certainly call into question his character. General manager John Schneider was aware of that, and as part of his process in checking out Arnold, the GM had a talk with quarterback Jalen Milroe.
Fans heard Schneider say as much on Hard Knocks recently. The GM told head coach Mike Macdonald that people had vouched for Arnold, and one of them was Milroe, a person who knows the cornerback better than anyone else in the Seattle organization.
The two players were roommates at the University of Alabama and developed a close friendship. That Milroe is only entering his second season, but Schneider values the quarterback's input so much, says a lot about Milroe the person.
Seattle Seahawks signing Terrion Arnold shows a lot of faith in Jalen Milroe
While the QB might struggle with his passing accuracy and decision-making from practice play to practice play, what no one has ever seemingly doubted with the Seahawks is that Milroe understands how to approach life in the right way and make good decisions away from the field. If he trusts Arnold, that was good enough for Schneider.
The only real drawback is that if Arnold joins the Seahawks and becomes a disruption in the locker room, that might affect how the team views Milroe's opinion of others, but that seems unlikely. While Arnold might actually have done the things he is charged with (four counts of armed robbery and four counts of kidnapping), he hasn't appeared to be a problem for the chemistry of his teams.
Arnold, even accidentally being a distraction off the field for the Seattle Seahawks, isn't going to be an issue, however. Star defensive lineman Leonard Williams already put an end to that by saying any new player joining the team would need to acclimate quickly to how the team does business and would need to learn to adapt to Seattle's culture.
As implied by John Schneider trusting Jalen Milroe in his opinion of Terrion Arnold, the cornerback will understand his role and his place on the team. He also needs to prove he can be a high-end performer at one of the cornerback spots.
That and his off-field legal battle are likely why he only signed a one-year deal. The team wants to make sure he is good on and off the field, while the 23-year-old Arnold wants to be great for Seattle and then hit free agency next year, hoping for a bigger payday, assuming he isn't in jail or suspended by the NFL.
Seattle fans have Milroe to thank if Arnold proves to be a good player and a better-than-expected person. If things don't work with Arnold, Milroe shouldn't be blamed.
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