Pride of Detroit
Ahead of every Detroit Lions game in 2025, we will provide readers with an updated depth chart of the team’s roster based on what we are seeing at practices.
For this preseason game against the Houston Texans, the Lions plan on continuing to rest their starters—they rested 28 players against the Chargers, another 31 against the Falcons, and 30 against the Dolphins—especially with another joint practice earlier this week. It’s also worth keeping in mind that in previous years’ final preseason games, the Lions have rested even more players than normal, giving bubble players extra time to show their value, while also resting more contributors they don’t want to risk injury. So with that in mind, expect at least the top third of the roster to be on the sidelines for this matchup.
To help out your game viewing experience, here are a few keys to keep in mind when exploring this depth chart:
Jared Goff (16)
Kyle Allen (8)
Hendon Hooker (2)
It’s Hendon Hooker’s turn in the rotation to start, but coach Dan Campbell has already declared Allen as the leader for the QB2 job. Hooker still has a chance to pry the No. 2 job away from Allen, but it’s more likely that he’s playing to try and convince coaches to keep all three quarterbacks on the roster.
Lions coach Dan Campbell shared his thoughts on keeping three quarterbacks, and while he remains open to the idea, he also certainly made it sound like it was not his preferred route to take.
“If you do that (keep three quarterbacks), you lose depth, what, D-line or O-line? Or receiver, or defense back, or linebacker, or – you get the point,” Campbell explained on Thursday. “So, how important is that relative to the other positions? Look, call it what you want, when you have a year like we did last year, you get affected a little bit by it. It has an effect on the way you think. Depth, depth, depth. We’ve got to make sure that we have the depth.”
Jahmyr Gibbs (0)
David Montgomery (5)
Craig Reynolds (13)
Sione Vaki (33) — Injury (undisclosed) Jacob Saylors (48)
Deon Jackson (36)
Vaki leaving practice early on Thursday certainly throws a wrench into the works for Reynolds, who may have to pick up the slack. However, with this being the final preseason game, it also wouldn’t be surprising if the Lions played it safe with Reynolds and didn’t play him at all, instead letting Saylors and Jackson battle it out for the entirety of the game.
WR-Y Amon-Ra St. Brown (14)
WR-Z Jameson Williams (1)
WR-X Tim Patrick (12)
Kalif Raymond (11)
Isaac TeSlaa* (18)
Jackson Meeks* (83)...
