By Sunday 
It’s becoming a familiar — and increasingly frustrating — headline for Lions fans: another week, another wave of defensive injuries.
As Detroit prepares for a Monday night showdown with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dan Campbell’s defense is running out of bodies on the back end. The secondary, once a source of swagger and stability, now looks more like a medical chart than a depth chart.
A Depth Chart Held Together by Tape
Let’s start with the facts: Detroit is down both starting cornerbacks, missing its top safety, and could very well be without Kerby Joseph — the final member of its starting safety tandem.
Joseph has been trying to tough out a nagging knee injury since training camp, leaving games in both Week 4 and Week 6. Dan Campbell summed it up bluntly after last week’s loss to Kansas City:
“He tried to gut through it… it wasn’t his best performance, and he’ll tell you that, too. He was giving us what he had.”
The timing couldn’t be worse. With the team’s bye week right after this game, resting Joseph would make sense. But sitting him means Detroit’s secondary could feature zero Week 1 starters.
Who’s Actually Playing?
Here’s where things get creative — or chaotic, depending on how you see it.
With D.J. Reed still on injured reserve, Terrion Arnold unlikely to return before the bye, and Avonte Maddox sidelined with a hamstring injury, the Lions are left scraping the bottom of the roster.
Detroit recently signed veteran corner Kendall Fuller and plucked safety Jammie Robinson from Kansas City’s practice squad just this week. Fuller probably won’t start immediately, but at this point, anything’s possible.
Meanwhile, Amik Robertson — normally the team’s nickel corner — has been forced to play outside, while Rock Ya-Sin and Thomas Harper are set to man the safety spots. Rounding out the group are Tre Flowers, Nick Whiteside, and possibly Robinson in rotation.
In short? It’s a secondary stitched together overnight — a blend of resilience, rookies, and recycled veterans.
A Bruised Battle on Both Sides
The good news for Detroit? The Buccaneers are just as banged up.
Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have been in and out of the lineup, rookie Emeka Egbuka (who’s been lights out) is nursing a hamstring, and even Bucky Irving and key linemen are questionable.
Still, Baker Mayfield has kept the offense humming with his second-team weapons — proving he doesn’t need ideal conditions to make plays. That’s what makes Monday night so intriguing. Two playoff-caliber teams, both limping, both defiant.
“Next Man Up” — Again
Dan Campbell’s been saying it all season:
“The next guy’s got to step up and serve a role for us… everybody else has got to pull a little bit more of that load.”
That mantra will be tested more than ever this week. Detroit’s secondary might be hanging by a thread, but grit has been this team’s identity since Campbell arrived.
Expect the Lions to lean heavily on their pass rush — Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeill will need to create chaos early to help their patchwork back end survive.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t the matchup anyone drew up on paper — it’s one drawn in bandages.
If Detroit can hold it together just one more week before the bye, they’ll enter the back half of the season with rest, reinforcements, and a statement of toughness that fits the Dan Campbell era perfectly.
Until then, it’s simple: next man up, no excuses, no backing down.