| Offense – | NFL Depth Chart | ||||
| Position | |||||
| QB | Jared Goff | ||||
| HB | David Montgomery | ||||
| WR | Amon-Ra St. Brown | Marvin Jones Jr. | Josh Reynolds | ||
| TE | Sam LaPorta | Brock Wirght | James Mitchell | ||
| OL | Taylor Decker | Jonah Jackson | Frank Ragnow | Halapoulivaati Vaital | Penel Sewell |
| Defense – | |||||
| Position | |||||
| DE | Charles Harris | Aidan Hutchinson | |||
| DT | Alim Mcneil | Benito Jones | |||
| MLB | Jack Campbell | ||||
| OLB | Derrick Barnes | Alex Anzalone | |||
| CB | Cameron Sutton | Jerry Jacobs | Brian Branch | ||
| S | C.J Gardner-Johnson | Kerby Joseph | |||
| Offense – | PML Projected Depth Chart | ||||
| Position | |||||
| QB | Jared Goff | ||||
| HB | Jahmyr Gibbs | ||||
| WR | Amon-Ra St. Brown | Kalif Raymond | Marvin Jones Jr. | ||
| TE | Sam LaPorta | Brock Wirght | James Mitchell | ||
| OL | Taylor Decker | Jonah Jackson | Frank Ragnow | Graham Glasgow | Penel Sewell |
| Defense – | |||||
| Position | |||||
| DE | Romeo Okwara | Aidan Hutchinson | |||
| DT | Alim Mcneil | Levi Onwuzurlke | |||
| MLB | Jack Campbell | Derrick Barnes | |||
| OLB | Alex Anzalone | Malcom Rodriguez | |||
| CB | C.J Gardner-Johnson | Emmanuel Moseley | Cameron Sutton | ||
| S | Brian Branch | Kerby Joseph |
This cycle I am taking over the Detroit Lions and I wanted to do a quick comparison of my projected week one starting offense and defense versus the week one starting offense and defense of the Detroit Lions. The biggest difference on offense is that I will be starting Jahmyr Gibbs over David Montgomery. Gibbs will be a three down back, but on the occasional short yardage situation, I’ll sprinkle Montgomery in the mix. Graham Glasgow gets the start at RG over Halapoulivaati Vaital because Graham is an all-around better player despite both being in their 30s. Kalif Raymond was more of a specialist in the return game Thursday night, although he did fill in on a few plays. His speed makes him ideal in Madden, although he is only 5’8” so I expect to play him in the slot in most formations with three receivers. We are going to see more of a difference in rosters on the defensive side of the ball, because the lack of playmaking cornerbacks on the Lions is draining. I decided to keep Gardner-Johnson at the safety position, but he is going to play as my primary cornerback. I like Brian Branch as my starting strong safety because of his ability to close the gap in space and hit with force. Emmanuel Mosely gets the starting spot opposite Gardner-Johnson because he is faster than Cameron Sutton and has better jumping ratings. Overall, I have an incredibly young team, but I fully expect to be able to compete with the Lions right out of the gate, even though Jameson Willliams is going to be out until week 9.
