ALLEN PARK -- Teez Tabor walked into the Detroit Lions locker room with his arm in a sling tucked inside a hoodie Monday, but he said it isn't a cause for too much concern.

No break. No long-term injury in play as he heads into his first offseason as a pro.

Detroit's second-round rookie cornerback wouldn't go into more detail than that, citing the organization's stance on releasing injury information. But he was in solid spirits following a first season that had its ups, downs and bouts of uncertainty but ended with him trending in an encouraging direction.

It ended with a thud in Sunday's regular-season finale, a game the Lions won 35-11 over the Green Bay Packers to finish 9-7. Tabor and safety Quandre Diggs were sprinting full-on to tackle a Packers wide receiver who got loose on a pass, and Diggs flew into Tabor's arm by accident and sent him to the turf and out of the game.

"I told him I loved the hit, man, because that's how I want my safety to play," Tabor said. "... As long as he don't catch the ball, we're good. Hit me if you've got to."

Tabor seemed to be in strong spirits on the first day of his first offseason, one day after getting hit in a game because at least it meant he was in the game.

After a training camp in which he gave up a number of touchdown passes, Tabor spent the first month of the season in street clothes, a healthy scratch behind the deepest position group on the Lions roster. To the outside, the Florida product looked like even more of a luxury pick than when the Lions took him in the second round despite concerns over his timed speed entering the draft.

"I didn't go in the tank," Tabor said

This was by design. It followed the characterization defensive coordinator Teryl Austin laid out for keeping a rookie cornerback from being exposed too much in a passing league, much the way Darius Slay was back when he was a rookie.

"I got thrown in quick and got benched quick," Slay said. "I was in the fire fast. Coach kind of warmed (Tabor) up, cooled him down, warmed him up, cooled him down until he got real comfortable so he doesn't lose his confidence."

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Tabor clarified a suggestion that he was the best cornerback in the draft to say he felt he was the best defensive player, period. Sitting the first half of the season wasn't easy on his competitive fire, but he said he discovered later on that life as a rookie cornerback is simply meant to be difficult.

"If I ever get to coach one day and they have a rookie over here, then let's test the waters real quick," Tabor said. "You're just not a seasoned vet yet. A couple positions out there, you can just go ball in. At corner, you're going up against Julio Jones, AJ Green, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham. Every team has a legit No. 1 guy."

Tabor's goal now is to heal up so he can prepare for the jump that many expect to come between Year One and Year Two. He ended up playing lots down the stretch this season, logging 39, 44 and 44 plays in the three games before he hurt his arm. He was placed into a deep coverage scheem with lots of zone assignments, but the responsibilities are going to speed up by next year.

Detroit could lose cornerbacks Nevin Lawson and DJ Hayden in free agency. They could be looking for a new starting cornerback on the opposite side of Slay. And after the Pro Bowl season Slay had while leading the league in interceptions, teams will be looking for someone else to try to pick on.

Tabor knows who that could be.

"This offseason," he said, "I'm just going to put everything I have into the game."