Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before, but injuries were a major factor in the Detroit Lions\u2019 play in 2025. After suffering an injury-riddled year in 2024 and still winning the NFC North and the NFC\u2019s top seed, injuries were too much to overcome in 2025. One of the biggest injuries to hit the team was to young star safety Brian Branch, who played in 12 games before missing the rest of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
Branch has been one of the best players not just on the Lions\u2019 defense, but on the entire team in his short career. From playing nickel in 2023 to moving to safety in 2024, he\u2019s improved and become a staple of this defense. If he didn\u2019t suffer an injury last season, I got a feeling he would\u2019ve been re-signed already, or at least discussions would\u2019ve been had to get that moving along. Now that he suffered a brutal Achilles injury, his future in Detroit, and arguably the NFL, is questionable.<\/p>\n
Branch is still young, 24 years old, and he could easily recover from this injury, but Achilles injuries are challenging to return to being the same player you once were. I don\u2019t believe the Lions have any doubts that Branch can return to form, but they\u2019ll want to see it before making any future moves with him. With that being said, let\u2019s take a look back at how Branch did in 2025 and how his 2026 season could play out.<\/p>\n
Expectations heading into 2025<\/p>\n
Coming off a Pro Bowl season in 2024, Branch had lofty expectations in 2025. Being paired with fellow safety Kerby Joseph made them arguably the best safety duo in the NFL. Branch was poised to upgrade from Pro Bowler to All-Pro in 2025. The Lions got him some help in the secondary, signing cornerbacks D.J. Reed and Rock Ya-Sin, and bringing over safety\/nickelback Avonte Maddox to give them a veteran in the room and valuable depth, along with a young safety in Thomas Harper.<\/p>\n
With the upgrades around him, along with the multiple players returning from injury who were down in 2024, Branch and the Lions had big expectations heading into 2025. If Branch could have a stellar season, he might even have jumped linebacker Jack Campbell as the first player from the 2023 NFL Draft class to get a contract extension.<\/p>\n
12 games (12 starts)
Stats: 75 total tackles, nine pass deflections, five tackles for loss, two and a half sacks, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery
PFF defensive grade: 77.5 (13th out of 104 qualifying Safeties \u2014 minimum 265 snaps)
PFF coverage grade: 74 (16th out of 104)
PFF run defense grade: 82.6 (t-9th out of 104)
PFF tackling grade: 87.7 (6th out of 104)<\/p>\n
Branch had the worst year of his career so far, but it wasn\u2019t bad; it just wasn\u2019t up to the standard he had set for himself the previous two seasons. His coverage wasn\u2019t as tight as the year before, and he failed to secure an interception. His PFF grades for run defense, coverage, and defense were the lowest of his career. The injury was the last straw for him and for the Lions as a whole.<\/p>\n
Another issue with Branch in 2025 was his on-field demeanor. He\u2019s famously known for throwing up two middle fingers against the Green Bay Packers in 2024 after being ejected for an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit on Packers wide receiver Bo Melton. He took it up to a new level in 2025, getting suspended for a game<\/a> after a post-game fight with Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lions head coach Dan Campbell said what Branch did isn\u2019t something this league needs.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Brian Branch, but what he did was inexcusable. It\u2019s not going to be accepted here. It\u2019s not what we do. It\u2019s not what we\u2019re about. I apologize to Coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs, and Schuster. That\u2019s not okay. That\u2019s not what we do here, and it\u2019s not going to be okay. He knows it, our team knows it. That\u2019s not what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Branch spoke after the game and explained why he did it, expressing his regret and frustration with the whole thing.<\/p>\n \u201cI did a little childish thing, but I\u2019m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays, and refs don\u2019t catch it. They be trying to bully me out there, and I don\u2019t even\u2014I shouldn\u2019t have did it. It was childish.\u201d<\/p>\n Branch is still recovering from his injury, and his return date is up in the air. It was mentioned to Campbell that other players who suffered the same injury as Branch were seen practicing and participating in drills, so Campbell was asked if Branch could return sooner than expected.<\/p>\n Campbell joked, saying, \u201cI\u2019m gonna just go ahead and widen the window so we don\u2019t have to talk about it anymore. Let\u2019s just go ahead and say December, and then anything before that is a bonus. That way you don\u2019t have to ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n If Branch isn\u2019t ready to start practicing for training camp, the Lions would have him start the year on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. He can come off that list at any time during training camp, but if he remains on that list once the 53-man roster is finalized, he would be forced to miss the first four games of the season. Campbell said Branch could appear on that list, but gave a positive update on his recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, there\u2019s no setbacks with him. That\u2019s what I can tell you. He\u2019s doing a good job; he\u2019s putting in the work, but it\u2019s a little\u2014until we really get closer, I hate to start throwing a timetable on him, but he\u2019s doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n So if Branch is on the right path to recovery and the team wants to ensure he is ready to go before risking anything, I would expect him to start the season on the PUP list, with the potential to return in Week 5. This way, the team isn\u2019t playing with fire, and they know he\u2019s ready to go. With him in the last year of his contract, Branch won\u2019t want to risk anything that could jeopardize an extension.<\/p>\n If Branch can come back and return to form, hopefully back to his 2024 version, he could be in for a very good payday from the Lions. Returning from this type of injury can take extra time, as most players don\u2019t return to form until the year after they return to the field. With that, Branch might not be the same player he was before 2026, but if he can be even close to that, the team will benefit greatly. Their secondary has question marks all over, so getting someone they know will be solid and helpful will be a step in the right direction for them.<\/p>\n Lastly, if Branch can show he\u2019s returned to form from his injury, he might not have to wait until the offseason to get a contract extension from the Lions. Lions General Manager Brad Holmes said he wants to keep the top four players from that loaded 2023 NFL Draft class, and Branch\u2019s play upon his return will be a major factor in his future with the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before, but injuries were a major factor in the Detroit Lions\u2019 play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[2131,5192,2132,349,99],"class_list":["post-744280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-detroit-lions-opinion","tag-detroit-lions-roster","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}