The Detroit Lions (8-7) and Minnesota Vikings (7-8) have declared their inactives ahead of their Week 17 matchup. While the Vikings ruled out four key players on Wednesday, the Lions ruled out starting safety Avonte Maddox and assigned a questionable designation to 11 players, with most eyes landing on the status of Pro Bowl wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and LT Taylor Decker—who showed up on the injury report on Thursday with an illness.
Unfortunately, Decker has been ruled OUT, as his illness will keep him from playing in this game. Look for the Lions to turn to Dan Skipper to start at left tackle, with Kayode Awosika and rookie Miles Frazier acting in emergency backup roles.
There is good news for Lions, though, as Amon-Ra St. Brown WILL PLAY and is expected to start against the Vikings.
St. Brown was dealing with “a little irritation” in his knee and saw limited availability this week. While coach Dan Campbell acknowledged that the news was genuinely “positive,” there was still some question about his availability for this game because of the short week. Fortunately, St. Brown has proved to be a quick healer and has battled through similar injuries earlier in the season.
If you missed any of the team’s roster transactions this week or need a refresher on our updated depth chart, with position-by-position rankings as well as a visual overview, we’ve got you covered. We also delivered a plethora of game previews leading up to this game, including breaking down the Vikings coaching staff and scheme, Erik’s Keys to Victory (Honolulu Blueprint), Jeremy’s On Paper game preview, Al gives us this game’s best statistical matchups, while Brandon makes a bold prediction, and the POD staff makes their pick-em predictions.
With two players elevated for this game, the Lions’ roster sits at 55 players on the game-day roster, and with 48 eligible to play, Detroit needs to declare seven players inactive for today’s matchup.
Lions inactives:
- LT Taylor Decker (illness)
- LG Trystan Colon (wrist)
- C/G Michael Niese
- WR Dominic Lovett
- DL Mekhi Wingo
- DL Tyler Lacy
- S Avonte Maddox (back/illness) — Ruled out on Wednesday
Vikings inactives:
- QB J.J. McCarthy (right hand) — Ruled out on Wednesday
- QB Brett Rypien (Emergency 3rd QB)
- RB Jordan Mason (ankle) — Ruled out on Wednesday
- TE T.J. Hockenson (shoulder) — Ruled out on Wednesday
- RT Brian O’Neill
- LB Austin Keys
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