Brian Branch Is Going To Be A SUPERSTAR IN 2024! EXPANDED ROLE and DPOY Candidate!

when talking about the Detroit Lions defense everybody likes to focus on Aiden Hutchinson the Superstar pass rusher everybody likes to focus on Alene mcneel and DJ reer the NFL’s new top defensive tackle Duo they like to focus on first round pick terion Arnold the new flashy first round cornerback that’s supposed to be the new number one guy but a lot of people Overlook Brian Branch the Detroit Lions seconde standout Superstar Who as a rookie Defender was one of the Detroit Lions most impressive now Brian Branch plays a much less valuable position than say Aiden Hutchinson or Terry arold he is a player that hasn’t made very many Splash this off season due to a recovering surgery but with an expanded role in 2024 Brian branch is ready to take a step into super stardom in the NFL and he very well may repeat as the Detroit Lions most stand outstanding defensive player in 2024 and today we are going to take a look at Brian Branch his role on the defense his expanded role in 2024 and what the expectation should be for the Detroit Lions former second round selection so taking a look at Brian Branch he had a very strange fall in the 2023 NFL draft a player that was projected to be a top 20 talent in the NFL didn’t get drafted until the 45th overall selection where the Detroit Lions traded up with the division rival Green Bay Packers to select Brian branch in the second round now his play play on the field was never the issue Brian Branch started three years at the University of Alabama where he had 172 tackles 19 and a half tackles for loss four sacks four interceptions 23 passes defended and a fumble recovery in his three years at Alabama Brian Branch was a 2020 National Championship winner he was a 2022 first team All American as well as a 2022 second Team all SEC he played every position from cornerback to linebacker to safety and he even rushed off the edge at times for Alabama being one of the nation’s most versatile Defenders as well as one of the nation’s best now one of the big reasons that Brian Branch fell through the draft process is largely due to his ra and athletic testing scores Brian Branch graded out with a 5.27 r score which is right around the NFL average and right around the 50th percentile he gritted out with with poor size being just 5’1 a little bit undersized for his weight he gr out with good explosiveness and good speed running a 45840 yard dash which isn’t great but isn’t necessarily the worst or a death sentence for a quarterback but also graded out with very poor agilities especially in the shuttle time although he did not run a three cone at the NFL combine so his ra score was a little bit low but his production on the field his versatility and his leadership were all things that led people to believing that despite the ra score he was a consensus top 20 player he was a lock for the first round and some team would be lucky enough to add a great player a great leader a great worker and a player that would impact your defense immediately now after the fact we know that that unfortunately did not happen Brian Branch ended up going in the second round with the 45th overall selection and he fell for one reason or another through the first round of the NFL draft now this is not particularly uncommon for slot quarterbacks players that are great players in the NFL and great players at college football tend to fall when they don’t have a highly valued position right they tend to fall when either they play a lot of positions but don’t necessarily play one of high importance or if they just don’t have a solidified spot and a lot of teams don’t know where they’re going to fit at the next level we saw this with Brian branch in 2023 and it’s a big reason why in the pre-draft process this year I said that Cooper dein was probably going to be a second round pick because he played a lot of different position yeah he played boundary cornerback like Brian Branch did at times at Alabama but he also played Safety he also played slot cornerback and looked really good at all of them but didn’t necessarily stand out at the boundary cornerback position where is the most valuable position on the field for him so with that being the case with him being kind of a slot cornerback safety hybrid he fell out of the first round because that position isn’t valued and despite having an even higher R score than Branch he ended up going at roughly the same pick in the concurrent draft so it’s not uncommon for players at this position to fall but Brian Branch did not let that stop him Brian Branch came into mini camp as the 45th overall pick the fourth player selected from the Detroit Lions 2023 class and he was outstanding Brian branch in 2023 played in 15 games for the Detroit line totaling 74 tackles seven tackles for loss three quarterback hits one sack a forced fumble three interceptions one of those being a touchdown in the first game of his NFL career on top of 13 other passes being defended that led Brian Branch to being named the fifth player in voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year fourth in voting for All Pro votes at the slot cornerback position and easily being named a top 10 player at his position despite his young age and relative inexperience so you take that productive rookie year where you finish top five in Rookie of the Year voting top five in all pro voting at your position easily a top 10 player in the slot you take away all of that fantastic play his rookie year and now you go into year two with the except with the expectations that Brian Branch could have an expanded role Brian Branch could play even more football and be more impactful in 2024 than he was in his outstanding rookie season now Brian Branch despite being phenomenal despite playing in 15 games and having all of those statistics and all of those high ranking people voting for him to be one of the best players at his role Brian Branch played Just 77% of defensive snaps for the Detroit Lions when he was on the field and when he was healthy and during one of the biggest performances of the season in the NFC championship game when they chaned to go to the Super Bowl Brian Branch took a back seats and sat on the bench for a majority of the game playing Just 41% of defensive snaps arguably the Detroit Line’s best defensive player and certainly their best player in the secondary played Just 40 1% of snaps in the NFC championship game in the Lions biggest game in arguably their franchises history and Brian Branch didn’t even play half of the Reps that led to a lot of fan uproar and it led to a lot of people saying that Brian Branch was being underutilized in Aaron Glenn’s defense in favor of players that weren’t nearly as talented in favor of players like Kendall vildor and cam Sutton and even some of the other safeties in the room that weren’t playing nearly as well as Brian Branch was so going into 2024 the Lions have put a very large emphasis on the fact that Brian Branch will have an expanded role a defensive assistant Jim O’Neal said that last year they were a little more hesitant with Brian Branch to just kind of fix him into one spot because he was a rookie but now that he’s going into year two they believe that Brian branch and the coaching staff will be more aggressive with him in his ability to play different positions he says that the defensive coordinator on Aaron Glenn will be more aggressive with Brian branch and that Brian Branch will have a far expanded role and a more expanded role and a more impactful role in 2024 and I think that’s a great idea for the Detroit Lions well I do believe that Brian branch and nickel formations will play the slot quarterback position and I do believe that he is the best player for that spot and I think that’s the best spot for him as a player with his skill set there is no reason that Brian Branch can’t play the safety position on a position where the lions are in potentially a base Personnel or a dime Personnel or they play with a bigger nickel cornerback in the slot there is a chance for Brian Branch to be the third safety to be the second safety I would argue that Brian branch is the most talented defensive player that the Detroit Lions have and he should not come off the field for any snap outside of injuries or rest if Brian branch is healthy and able to play on every single snap he should be playing on every single step and I love that Brian Branch’s versatility allows to move around in the defense and I think a lot of fans are really excited to see how defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is going to use his second-year Superstar right Brian branch is a player that can cover he can tackle he can be physical and pressed and also play Offman coverage he’s great with instincts in zone he’s great with being sticky in man coverage he is a player that does everything at an extremely high level and he has the ability to play cornerback he has the ability to play slot he has the ability to play you know the Deep safety or the you know box safety he can play every single secondary position on this football team and there is no reason that Brian Branch should ever play 41% of the snaps in any game at any time for any reason Brian branch is arguably the most talented player on the Detroit Lions defense and with an expanded role in 2024 I think Brian Branch will be recognized as one of the Detroit Lions Elite Defenders he will be recognized as one of the best players at his position and I think by the end of 2024 if you were to tell me that the Lions have one player in contention for defensive player of the year as great as it would be for Aiden Hutchinson to have that type of a season as great as it would be for Carlton Davis or Kirby Joseph or eatu malanu would have that kind of an impact I would put my money on Brian Branch for defensive player of the year for the Detroit Lions because I think with an expanded rule he will easily be the most impactful will easily be around the ball the most and I think he will have the biggest impact on the Detroit Lions defense this season but with all of that being said that is I for you guys today that is kind of the breakdown of Brian Branch as he expands his role into year two what we’re expecting from The Young Superstar safety and what we can expect to see as far as where he lines up position by position with all that being said that is I for you guys today if you have yet to subscribe to the Channel please go down below and do so we are 15 subscribers away from 4,000 and we are looking to hit that before mini camp kicks off in a couple of weeks so if you could help us do that that would be so incredibly helpful and and of course if you subscribe hit the Bell notification so you never miss a daily Detroit Lions upload but all of that being that’s all I got for you guys right now thank you all so much for watching let me know down in the comments below what you think Brian Branch’s role will look like in 2024 be very curious do you guys have to say and what you guys think about the Lions Superstar safety but with that being said I got you guys right now thank you all so much for watching and until next time and as always go lions s

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