BREAKING: Stop calling the Detroit Lions defense depleted, it's not

There is no doubt that the Detroit Lions have some injury issues right now. This cannot and will not be disputed. They’re missing Aidan Hutchinson and Malcolm Rodriguez for the rest of the season and that sucks, but this right here makes no sense at all.

Depleted? Like I said, there’s some injury issues. But the brakes need to be pumped on this whole depleted thing. The Lions injury issues aren’t as bad as they seem and they haven’t affected this team all year long.

For starters, take a look at this list of guys that are current starters and have been current starters all year.

Alim McNeill
DJ Reader
Brian Branch
Kerby Joseph
Jack Campbell
Terrion Arnold
Carlton Davis
Amik Robertson
Za’Darius Smith

That’s nine of the 11 guys that are usually out there starting for the Lions defense that are still able to start. Why are we suddenly acting as if those guys aren’t available for the rest of the year? Carlton Davis did miss the last game, but he’s back at practice. Reader could potentially miss Thursday, but he should be back after that.

The injuries are hard and the Lions do have to overcome them, but why are we acting as if this team hasn’t been overcoming injuries all year? Losing Hutchinson was super hard, but it happened in Week 6. This team hasn’t lost in that time. They lost Anzalone two weeks ago and they haven’t lost.

The reason they’re staying alive and still playing well is because they’re not depleted. The other thing is that a lot of the guys that are currently injured are expected to be back this season.