ALLEN PARK >> The bad news for the Detroit Lions is obvious: They’ve lost one of their most important defenders to what is likely a season-ending injury.

Carlton Davis III, who went down with a broken jaw against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, had been playing his best football of the season. Since Week 9, his overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus (84.3) paces all cornerbacks with at least 100 snaps, and his allowed passer rating of 56.3 ranks 14th-best out of those 119 cornerbacks. He was truly playing at a Pro Bowl-caliber level in his first season the Lions.

The good news, however, is this: Detroit has options to replace Davis for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears and for the rest of the season.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Lions defensive assistant and safeties coach Jim O’Neil said Friday. “It’s a great opportunity for some of these guys to get an increased role in our defense and see what they can do, because they’ve all been working.

“I think one of the things we do a great job (of) is we coach football. We don’t just coach corners how to play corner, we just don’t coach safeties how to play safety or nickels or how to play nickel. We coach football, that way when we get in situations like this, guys can be versatile because they understand the bigger picture of the defense and not just the specific job of one position.”

There’s multiple avenues for the Lions to make do without Davis. The easiest is to simply do a one-for-one swap and insert a reserve in his spot on the outside, whether that be Kindle Vildor or Emmanuel Moseley. Vildor has played 214 defensive snaps this season, while Moseley has yet to appear as a defender since coming back from the torn pectoral muscle he suffered in training camp.

Moseley made his 2024 debut against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 24, logging 15 snaps on special teams. He tweaked something during pregame warm-ups for the Bears game the following week, and he was a healthy inactive against the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills. But with both Davis and Khalil Dorsey (leg) out, Moseley is angling toward finally getting some defensive action.

“This is the best week (Moseley) has had since he’s come back from the injury,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “I just think he looks so much more comfortable. He’s moving around well, and it’s been really two great days for him.”

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Thursday that Moseley doesn’t look like someone who’s been sidelined for two years — he’s torn both ACLs and his pec since October 2023 — and that he’s looking forward to Moseley “going out there and playing for us.”

A trickier option that would require more shuffling could see Amik Robertson move from the nickel. Robertson has experience outside, with 49.8% of his nearly 2,000 career defensive snaps coming at the position. The downside here is that it’d create a hole in the slot, where Robertson has been solid this season.

Second-year defensive back Brian Branch would be a prime option to move into Robertson’s role. Branch played the majority of his reps at nickel last season before moving back and forming one of the league’s best safety tandems along with Kerby Joseph.

If Branch were to move back closer to the line of scrimmage, Brandon Joseph could take his spot at safety. Ifeatu Melifonwu, who is trying to get off injured reserve and is questionable for Sunday, is another alternative to fill in if Branch were to be called elsewhere.

“It’s huge to have a guy like Branch or a guy that’s coming like (Melifonwu) or a guy like Amik, who has played inside and outside, a guy like Kindle Vildor, who has taken reps at nickel, corner and safety all year in practice,” O’Neil said. “I could go on and on and on. (Moseley is) coming back. He’s played outside, he’s played inside (and) he’s also taken reps at safety.

“I think one of the things we do a really good job of is — all those guys that are backup players, they rep at every position just in case we ever get in a situation like this.”

On one hand, Davis’ injury could serve as the breaking point. Maybe the injuries — six starting defenders, along with other key pieces, such as Kyle Peko and Malcolm Rodriguez, are on injured reserve — are too much to overcome. Teams can only go so far down the depth chart before reaching a limit.

But this is also an opportunity for Glenn, the rest of the coaching staff and players like Vildor, Moseley or Melifonwu to come in and take advantage of an opportunity. Few thought the Lions would be able to overcome the loss of defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, but they’ve figured it out and pieced things together up front.

Perhaps they could do it again, but this time in the secondary.

“We’ve got options,” Campbell said Monday, “and we’ll find the best combination of guys and go from there.”