After being placed on the Physically Unable to Perform List to start the 2026 NFL regular season, both Detroit Lions safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch are eligible to begin practicing.
Detroit’s defense has sorely missed the presence of safeties that provide physicality and the ability to intercept the football. As part of new NFL rules, players on the PUP list can begin practicing in Week 2.
Dan Campbell, speaking to reporters for the first time after an extended break, stated that neither player will be returning this week.
“I don’t see it for either one. It’s tough to say,” Campbell said. “Branch has a chance to be back sooner than Kerby, but it won’t be this week.”
Campbell provided some clarity on Joseph’s knee injury, which has been a major cause of concern given that he has been out since Week 6 of last season. The head coach noted that he doesn’t feel comfortable enough to let the defender return to practice at this point.
“It’s a good question. Nothing that I’m gonna say is gonna make anybody feel any better about anything. I just know we were strengthening the knee,” Campbell said. “It wasn’t a set back, but there was a little bit of time there where we weren’t able to do everything we needed to do, so now we’re back at it. Until we can get the knee to a certain point where it feels strong, as strong as we can possible get it and he feels comfortable, we’re not gonna put him out there until he’s ready.”
The news is also not positive for veteran Avonte Maddox, as he will need surgery on his foot and is out for the rest of the season. Maddox suffered the injury in Thursday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Detroit is trying to find a suitable replacement by having several veterans visit the Allen Park Performance Center for workouts.
It has been reported safeties Mike Edwards, Jalen Mills and Jordan Fuller were among a group of defensive backs vying for a spot on the roster.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was asked earlier this year to clarify what he meant when he said to focus on what the defense could do now that Maddox and Chuck Clark were responsible for the backend of the defense.
Detroit’s front office was hopeful the veteran presence would stabilize a unit that had many question marks. Unfortunately, the defense has struggled immensely to execute effectively.
“Just speaking last year in general. Just things that you can’t do,” said Sheppard. “Like I say, coaching isn’t how smart the coach is. And I’ll repeat that, coaching isn’t, don’t anybody tell me a coach is smart because what he could stand up here and say. No, turn his players’ tape on and that’s what speaks for a coach. How fast are they playing? So you could have all these great ideas, but if the players can’t grasp it and allow them to go out, you can only give them the capacity that they can handle.
“That’s when you start to hold players back and they’re not able to perform at the peak of their ability. So that’s just the things that I believe in, in coaching.”
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