Out of the bye week, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell confirmed that both Brian Branch and Cade Mays will make their 2026 debuts against the Green Bay Packers this week. Branch will see the field for the first time since suffering a torn Achilles in early December. Mays will make his Lions debut after suffering a wrist fracture early in training camp.<\/p>\n
While both are expected to suit up on Sunday, Campbell said they were still evaluating how much each player will play on Sunday. The Lions coach made it clear that he doesn\u2019t intend to give Branch a full-time load, but he will probably still play a significant amount of snaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019d be asking a lot to say he\u2019s going to play 70 plays, but we feel like there\u2019s\u2014we do feel like he can handle quite a bit here,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to push him in practice early. That\u2019s one of the reasons we\u2019re practicing tomorrow and not Wednesday. So we can push some of these guys a little bit knowing they\u2019re going into a day off. I think that\u2019ll help a little bit. Then we\u2019ll have a really good idea by the time we hit the game. We already kind of have a range of what we\u2019re looking at for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a little more complicated for Mays. Campbell noted that while it\u2019s not uncommon for guards to play in a rotational role during a game, that\u2019s not how centers are typically treated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still back-and-forth on what do we do with him,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cDo we work him and Juice (Scruggs) in and out? Do we\u2014the center position, it\u2019s a little different than a guard. That\u2019s somebody that\u2019s constantly touching the football. But either way, barring anything negatively happening between now and the game, we plan on playing both of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Complicating things further with Mays is also the strong play of backup center Juice Scruggs. Not only is he currently the No. 2 graded center per PFF, but Campbell says he\u2019s been very impressed with how he\u2019s played and grown at the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the hard thing, Juice is playing pretty good football for us right now,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a good job, he\u2019s gotten better every week, and Juice is a freakin\u2019 team guy. Doesn\u2019t mean that if it comes to that (benching him), that he doesn\u2019t like that. Because there\u2019s definitely an argument to keep him rolling, because he\u2019s playing good football. But he\u2019s a team guy; he\u2019s all-in; he\u2019ll do whatever we ask him to do. And the good news is, one way or another, we get Cade worked back in with Juice playing pretty good, (Christian) Mahogany\u2019s had a couple of good weeks\u2014well, now we\u2019ve got some guys. We\u2019ve got a pretty good crew there to go with and get better as the season goes.\u201d<\/p>\n