After months of unknown surrounding Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch's health, only one player seems to have a clear path forward to returning to action in 2026.
Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters on Thursday that Branch, who has been rehabbing from a torn Achilles suffered last season, is on the right track but will be held out until potentially December.
“I’m gonna just go ahead and widen the window so we don’t have to talk about it anymore. Let’s just go ahead and say December and then anything before that is a bonus. That way you don’t have to ask me.”
As for Joseph, we simply don't know where he's at in his treatment. He's also not participating in practice, but it doesn't sound like he'll be ready to go anytime soon. This should really incentivize the Lions to seek out cheap help at safety, especially since they're planning to rely heavily on an older veteran in Chuck Clark.
Lions should look at trade market for safety help
Even if Detroit can get Branch back on the field by the end of the year, a stopgap safety added to the roster in the meantime could mean the world. Three names worth kicking the can on for Detroit are Ronnie Hickman, Grant Delpit, and Jeremy Chinn.
Hickman and Delpit could become casualties to the Cleveland Browns' rebuild. Both are plus defenders, and could immediately start for the Lions. Sports Illustrated's John Maakaron wrote about the possibility of Detroit targeting him, and he makes the most sense to target between himself and Hickman for how little his cap hit would be ($8 million).
Hickman's hit would be a bit stronger, as he just signed his free agent tender. But, he had a superb season with the Browns in 2025 - seven passes defended, two picks, 51 solo tackles, and 103 tackles total.
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Chinn, identified as a trade target by PFF's Bradley Locker, had an up year for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025. He finished up with 63 solo tackles, two forced fumbles, and six stuffs. As a decent backup, he could make sense for the Lions, especially with how big of a risk it could be to rely on Clark for a 17 game workload.
Of course, Christian Izien is the Lions' other free agency get this offseason who can play both cornerback and safety, but it would help a ton to have additional depth if he has a heavier load at nickelback and safety.
Detroit has not shown the desire to get aggressive with trades this season, with their action mostly coming during the draft. But, with these strangely vague updates on both Joseph and Branch, it might be a tree they need to start barking up.
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