The Detroit Lions play the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, and with a short week limiting preparation, the projected depth chart has some notable shifts on both sides of the ball. Detroit had just two walkthroughs on Monday and Tuesday, and that compressed schedule appears to be driving several roster decisions heading into this Week 2 matchup.

Offense

The first thing that jumps off the offensive depth chart is the absence of rookie tackle Blake Miller. It’s wild that he’s going to miss the first game of his NFL career after never missing a game at Clemson. There’s a joke practically writing itself here. The Lions, who have such a well-documented injury history, got one game out of Miller before he has to sit out the second one.

More than anything, though, this is the Lions saying they don’t want to risk it. This is Detroit playing it smart on a short week instead of forcing Miller to go, which he probably could do. If this game were on Sunday, Miller would likely play. But with essentially no real practices this week, there’s just no reason to test it. His official designation should come later on Wednesday, and we’ll see what happens Thursday, but right now it looks like he’s probably not going to suit up.

Jacob Saylors is projected as the RB2 for this game. Jahmyr Gibbs remains the starter, but the backup role is in flux. Sione Vaki struggled in Week 1, and Lions coach Dan Campbell’s postgame comments hinted that Detroit might alternate backs until the staff figures out exactly what it wants to do there.

There’s also a growing sense that the Lions could still go shopping at the position. It’s pretty apparent at this point, even if nobody has outright said it, but it seems like running back Isiah Pacheco will never play for the Lions at any point.

The rest of the offensive line looks healthy. Juice Scruggs was limited in the walkthrough, but Campbell talked about him Monday as if everything was fine and he was just dealing with a minor issue. Ben Bartch slots in at left guard. The rest of the offense stays as expected.

One receiver note worth watching: Campbell said wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa is going to get more involvement this week. That might mean the projection of Tay Martin overtaking TeSlaa was a bit premature. We’ll see how the targets shake out Thursday.

Defense

On the defensive side of the ball, Tyler Lacy could be a healthy scratch. That’s not because Lacy did anything wrong. He played fine in the opener. But he only logged 15 total snaps in that game, 11 pass rush snaps and four run defense snaps, despite the expectation that he’d play more.

The Lions are going to want to see what they have in Ahmed Hassanein at some point, and now feels like the time. Hassanein was the scratch on Sunday. Maybe Lacy takes that role this week, and Hassanein slides into the big end spot to show what he can do. The other option would be making Eric O’Neill the healthy scratch instead, but either way, it’s time for Detroit to get a look at Hassanein.

Devin White and Malcolm Rodriguez are projected to alternate in the will linebacker role. Jimmy Rolder is projected to make his NFL debut in this game, though the Lions might opt to wait until Week 3.

Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox are the starting safeties, but Thomas Harper should get a healthy amount of action. Keith Abney is another name to watch. He looked really good in just 17 snaps on Sunday, and the Lions are going to want to see more of what they can get out of him. Skyler Gill-Howard should also see an increase in playing time Thursday night.

We’ll update the full depth chart Thursday before kickoff once the Lions make their final decisions. Let’s see what Detroit actually puts on the field against Buffalo.

Detroit Lions News

Lions Film Study: Keith Abney’s debut showed exactly why Dan Campbell keeps calling him “headsy”

Mike Payton September 15, 2026