Allen Park — After diving deep on center Cade Mays’ performance earlier today, let’s flip to the Detroit Lions defense, where they enjoyed a similarly impactful return from injury with the season debut of safety Brian Branch.
It’s difficult to overstate how much the Lions have missed Branch — as well as running mate Kerby Joseph — to start the 2026 season. That’s not to say the tandem would have solved all the problems in the secondary, but there’s almost no way the Lions would have been among the league’s worst defenses with either or both on the field, especially with how well the defensive line has been performing.
While veteran Chuck Clark has adequately held down one of those safety jobs, the other has rotated between Avonte Maddox, Christian Izien, and most recently, rookie Keith Abney.
Maddox was struggling before suffering a season-ending foot injury. Izien had assignment issues leading to his benching. And Abney, for all his upside, is playing the complicated position for the first time.
The Lions needed Branch back, badly, following his nearly 11-month recovery from a torn Achilles tendon.
So how did the Lions deploy their returning star and what exactly did he provide, beyond the obvious, a fourth-quarter interception? We turn on the tape to better understand how defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard worked Branch into the mix and what rewards the unit reaped from the defender’s presence.