First-round pick says Raiders used draft-day ‘coin toss’ to select Brock Bowers over him at No. 13 overall

Many expected Terrion Arnold to go earlier than he did in the 2024 NFL Draft, with the Detroit Lions ultimately stopping the Alabama cornerback’s first-round slide by selecting him No. 24 overall. According to Arnold, the Las Vegas Raiders nearly swiped him much earlier, only to instead take tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13 overall because of … a coin toss.

“(The Lions) knew that the Raiders were a possibility,” Arnold told “The Next Round” podcast this week. “And actually the Raiders coach, they called me after the draft, and they were like, ‘We actually had a coin toss between you and Brock Bowers. It landed on him.’ I was like, ‘Oh wow.'”

Is Arnold simply echoing a figure of speech? Or did the Raiders use a literal coinflip on draft night to make their choice?

Raiders general manager Champ Kelly told reporters Wednesday he “can’t confirm” whether an actual coin toss occurred, commenting only that Las Vegas is “excited to get Brock here” as part of the offense. Arnold, meanwhile, appeared to suggest that head coach Antonio Pierce had, in fact, claimed an actual coinflip took place, per The Athletic.

At any rate, Bowers is in Las Vegas, Arnold is in Detroit, and both rookies figure to have sizable roles for their respective teams in 2024. Arnold celebrated his Lions destination on draft night; while he was born and raised in Florida, he told the Motor City crowd after being drafted that Detroit had brought him “home” and “right where I need to be.”