The Detroit Lions will host the New York Jets on Sunday, and the projected depth chart for this one could look noticeably different from what we’ve seen through the first two weeks of the season. Most of the changes figure to come on the defensive side of the ball, but there are a few worth noting on offense too. Let’s break it down.

Offense

Blake Miller is back at right tackle, sending Larry Borom back to the bench. Seth McLaughlin has been elevated to serve as the backup center behind Juice Scruggs. Christian Mahogany is expected to reclaim his starting spot. Plus, Lions head coach Dan Campbell made it seem like Ben Bartch is going to miss this game.

I thought Bartch played well in Week 1. Week 2, though, was a different story. Pro Football Focus graded him out at 33.1 with a 13.5 pass-block grade. He allowed six pressures. That’s not good. It wasn’t Larry Borom bad (Borom allowed 11 pressures and two sacks), but it was bad enough that Mahogany should get his job back.

Beyond the offensive line, things should mostly stay the same. I’m still putting Jacob Saylors ahead of Sione Vaki at running back because I keep wondering if the Saylors thing is finally going to happen. I also don’t think Jackson Meeks will be active for this game. When you see the defensive changes, you’ll probably understand why.

Defense

Chuck Clark will continue to start at safety. Izien is going to take that Avonte Maddox spot. Campbell’s comments on Friday made it seem that Jalen Mills will be elevated. The good news is that he played in this defense last year. Putting Abney at safety is interesting. I don’t know if he’s ever done it before. Then there’s Bishop Fitzgerald. Still not sure how much of him we’ll actually see.

At linebacker, I think Jimmy Rolder makes his debut this week. The reason he’s been inactive the first two weeks was simple. He missed most of training camp, and when he got back, the Lions like to do a two-to-three-week ramp-up period. At this point, Rolder has had three weeks of practice. It just makes sense that he’d be ready to go.

I’ve got Ahmed Hassanein making his debut in this game. At this point, we’ve seen enough of Tyler Lacy to know that maybe things aren’t working out the way the Lions thought they would. Lacy has struggled to set the edge in the run game and hasn’t been much of a pass rusher. He’s a decent tackler, but Detroit needs something more, and this is where you put Hassanein in.

The only thing that gives me pause is that Hassanein showed up on the injury report this week with an illness. It’s not an injury, but you never know how long those things are going to last. We’ll see.

I do still have Eric O’Neill active for this game. He’s been doing well on special teams. I’m really noticing it. He’s looked good there.

The cornerback spots will remain the same, with D.J. Reed on one side and Rock Ya-Sin on the other. Roger McCreary should see some more outside work as well.

That’s what we think is going to happen on Sunday. We’ll put out a more accurate depth chart right before the game that reflects who’s active and who’s on the field. We’ll see how right or how wrong we were.

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