It’s Friday, so it’s time once again to go over the Detroit Lions’ projected depth chart for the week. Between this week’s press conferences and practice reports, we learned some big stuff about what the Lions will look like against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

The short version is this. The offense looks the same. The defense is where all the changes are. Let’s break it down.

Offense

Nothing is different on the offensive side of the ball from last week to this week.

Ben Bartch looks like he’s going to miss another week. He did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Even if he were to come back on Friday, I just don’t see him playing in this game. Everything else on offense is going to remain the same.

I think Jackson Meeks is going to get more opportunities again. I also believe Tyler Conklin will once again be the odd man out at tight end. That’s it. This is what this offense looks like right now, and you can understand why Detroit isn’t messing with it.

Defense

Brian Branch isn’t expected to play this week. Lions coach Dan Campbell called it a tall order. He did not officially rule Branch out, so we’ll probably know that for sure when the injury report comes out around 4 p.m. ET. Maybe Branch gets a questionable or doubtful designation. My guess is both Branch and Cade Mays will be out for this game.

So what do you do at safety? You’ve got Chuck Clark and Christian Izien as your starters.

We’ve been hearing a lot about Keith Abney getting more opportunities this week. I think those opportunities are going to come at both corner and safety. That’s why I have Abney listed behind Izien at safety and behind D.J. Reed at corner.

I’ve been calling it the diet Brian Branch role. Abney can do a lot. He can play safety, he can play nickel, and he can play outside corner. I think you’re going to see him do all of that stuff on Sunday.

At linebacker, I have Malcolm Rodriguez starting. I think it’s time to just go ahead and do it. The Lions tried a few things there. Devin White didn’t work in that spot. They looked at Nowaske as a possible answer.

Rodriguez has played well, even if it’s come in smaller snap counts. It’s time to give him that starting WILL role.

I do have Rolder backing him up. I think you’re going to see more and more of Rolder as time goes by. I know Lions fans are concerned that they haven’t seen much of Rolder or Derrick Moore yet. I get it. It’s frustrating at times because you’d love for Detroit to just throw the rookies into the fire. But this is just what the Lions do. They want to ease them in.

At corner, D.J. Reed starts with Abney behind him. That’s just what you’ve got to do at this point.

On the opposite side, I think it’s Rakestraw week. It has to be. McCreary has not worked out, and it’s time to throw the dart here.

The Lions keep saying things to the effect of, if you’re not in the right position and you’re missing assignments, we’re going to replace you. At this point, let’s see what Rakestraw can do as a starter. I believe that’s going to happen this week.

On the defensive line, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

I know Lions fans would love to see Ahmed Hassanein. I would love to see Ahmed Hassanein too. But the defensive line has been playing really well, so just let it keep doing what it’s doing.

That’s what the depth chart looks like to us going into this game against Arizona. We’ll see what’s actually different once Sunday rolls around, when we get the inactives and see who’s working where on the field. We’ll put out our updated depth chart on Sunday.

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