The Detroit Lions have had major problems on defense to start the 2026 season, and the breakdowns have come largely due to the poor play of the secondary.
Entering the season, there were questions about whether the Lions could adjust without major help at cornerback following the release of Terrion Arnold. Additionally, there were more concerns waited for Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph to come back off injury. So far, the answer is a resounding no.
The Lions have given up over 30 points in both games they have played, and worse than that, their defense has looked unprepared. There's been busts and mistakes that make it appear as if Detroit is being poorly coached, which leads to pressure on both Brad Holmes and Kelvin Sheppard in the short-term.
In spite of this, there is still some hope for the group no matter how poor the statistics. That hope rests mostly in the return of Branch and Joseph at some point this year. Sports Illustrated analyst Eva Geitheim took a closer look at some of the numbers, and concluded that while things have looked bleak early, there's a major bright side in the return of both safeties eventually.
"The Lions certainly weren’t thrilled to hear the Bills Mafia singing “Mr. Brightside” in celebration in the fourth quarter, but there are reasons for Detroit to look on the bright side going forward. The Lions defense came into this season missing Joseph and Branch, who were placed on the physically unable to perform list before the year, but are expected to return this season. Once they return, the secondary should be better, even if still an imperfect unit."
Though Branch and Joseph could technically open their practice window this week, Dan Campbell has said it isn't going to happen. That means any hopes of a quick fix for the defense based around the health of both safeties isn't likely to play out in the short-term. That puts the Lions in a major pickle when it comes to finding a fix for their leaky defense.
Campbell update reveals why Lions may not see rosy scenario play out
While it would be nice to have Branch and Joseph each come back healthy this season, it seems far more likely that the Lions will get only one of the two back any time soon. Branch is far more likely than Joseph to re-appear at all this season.
Campbell was asked to expand upon the situation with Joseph, and had a pretty blunt commentary on the matter. As he said, the Lions are still working hard to get Joseph to the point where he can practice and feel stronger at all.
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"Nothing I'm going to say is going to make anybody feel better about anything. I just know we were strengthening the knee, and it wasn't a setback, but there was a little time there where we weren't able to do everything we needed to do. Now we're back at it, and until we can get the knee to a certain point to where it feels strong, as strong as we can possibly get it, and he feels comfortable, we're not going to put him out there until he's ready defensively."
When will he be ready? That's obviously subjective and impossible to say. Clearly, Branch will be the player that has the chance to come back healthy and show his stuff first. Whatever the Lions would get from Joseph hypothetically would have to be seen as a bonus.
Rather than a dream scenario where both players come back and give the Lions 100% of what they need, the franchise likely has to hope for 50% now. If they can get that level of improvement out of Branch, it would have to be considered a success for their struggling defense.
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