The Lions are opening the 2026 season without two key pieces of their secondary. Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph are starting the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list, which pushes their earliest possible return to Detroit’s Week 5 trip to face the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 11.
That timing matters because the first month of the schedule is packed. Detroit opens with the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, then gets the Buffalo Bills in Week 2, the New York Jets in Week 3 and the Carolina Panthers in Week 4. After the Cardinals game on the road, the Lions go into a Week 6 bye before returning home to host the Green Bay Packers in Week 7.
Branch, dealing with an Achilles issue, and Joseph, who has been working back from a knee injury, have not practiced this offseason. Dan Campbell said on July 29 that Branch might be able to get back on the field “late (in) training camp, maybe early September,” and he described Joseph as being “on the Branch plan a little bit, and that's if everything goes well and everything goes according to plan with him and we’ve got everything on our side.”
Campbell’s most recent update came Aug. 27, when he was asked whether a PUP decision had already been made. “Brad (Holmes) and I will discuss all that over the next, call it, three or four days here.
We're going to start kind of meeting this afternoon after all this and start going through it. I'm not going to be able to give you a definitive answer right now.
Both of those guys are doing well right now.”
There is also a wrinkle in the rules this season that could affect the timeline. Players who start the year on PUP still must sit out four games, but they can begin practicing with the team after Week 2. Under the old rule, they had to wait until after Week 4 to return to practice.
With Branch and Joseph unavailable, the Lions are expected to open with Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox.
In Other News...
Saints Make A Surprising Secondary Cut Fans Didn't See Coming
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Burgess is reportedly a candidate to return on the practice squad, which would keep him in the building if the Saints want his experience available. Even so, the decision points to a clear youth movement in the defensive backfield, with younger players expected to handle bigger roles as the team settles its roster. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Roster Cuts Begin As Familiar Depth Faces Uncertain Future
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For a team trying to sort out the bottom of the roster, these decisions are rarely final in the way they first appear. The players now enter the waiver process and still have a path back to the Saints practice squad if they go unclaimed, which keeps a small window open as the deadline approaches and the last pieces of the roster picture come into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Fans Can Now See What That Deion Jones Trade Really Was
What looked like a small late-summer move between the Saints and 49ers has already turned into one of those preseason transactions that says more about roster juggling than long-term plans. New Orleans sent linebacker Deion Jones to San Francisco for running back Zamir White, a swap made to help each team cover a need for the final exhibition games rather than a deal built around a permanent fit.
Neither side ended up carrying the move beyond the preseason finale, with both players released by their new teams afterward. For Saints fans, the more interesting part may be what comes next for Jones, who could still circle back to the 49ers through the practice squad if San Francisco wants to keep him in the building a little longer. [Read more 🡒]