Lions trade up and keep building a secondary beast with Brian Branch

The Detroit Lions traded up in the second round, and added another piece to a fierce-looking secondary with Alabama’s Brian Branch.

The Detroit Lions added notable pieces to their secondary in free agency, but it was fair to assume they’d still look to add to it in the draft with some eye on the future. On that note, they moved up from pick 48 to No. 45 and drafted Alabama defensive back Brian Branch.

In the trade with the Green Bay Packers, the Lions surrendered pick No. 48 and pick No. 159 in the fifth round, the pick they got from the Atlanta Falcons for cornerback Jeff Okudah.

The Lions had a top-30 visit with Branch, and his versatiity as a nickel corner/safety reeks of a great fit for defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s desires (h/t to Ben Raven of MLive).

I like a safety that has an opportunity to play nickel, because those guys are bigger body guys, but now those guys are able to cover, cause this is a space game,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said at the combine. “So if you can get a bigger body guy to play nickel and…(be) a run fit, man, you really got something now.

Last season, Branch had 90 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, three sacks, seven pass breakups and two interceptions. Pro Football Focus credited him a 69.3 passer rating allowed and a 15.8 percent incompletion rate when targeted. PFF also gave him just four missed tackles in 174 career attempts at Alabama.

Detroit Lions keep building their secondary beast with addition of Brian Branch

Branch is versatile in a similar vein to Lions free agency signing Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who was brought in on a one-year deal. He did not wow in Combine athletic testing, which may have fostered his fall to the second round. But he plays fast and instinctively–if he didn’t, he would not have seen the field for Nick Saban.

The Lions had a future need in the secondary, with a lot of guys on short contracts. But Branch could be an instant difference maker and a future stalwart.