Detroit Lions inactives list for Week 4 vs. Seahawks: Is Brian Branch playing?

The Detroit Lions won in Week 3, but their list of injured players coming out of the game was lengthy. And that was before center Frank Ragnow was added to the list the following night.

Two of the injured players from that game against the Arizona Cardinals (defensive end Marcus Davenport, linebacker Derrick Barnes) were put on IR last week. Ragnow was ruled out for Week 4 by head coach Dan Campbell, due to what has been reported to be a partially torn pectoral.

Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu was also placed on IR by the Lions over the weekend. He has yet to play this season due to a training camp injury that has been listed as an ankle issue by the team. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press has reported it's an Achilles' injury.

The final Week 4 injury report for the Lions, ahead of Monday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks, was filled with excellent news otherwise. Multiple injured players from the game against the Cardinals carried no designation.

But Sunday morning brought a negative turn, with Brian Branch being downgraded to doubtful due to an illness. The second-year defensive back suffered a concussion against Arizona, after a rough bit of helmet-to-helmet contact with Cardinals tight end Trey McBride. Full practices on Friday and Saturday, and no injury designation on Saturday, seemed to indicated he had cleared concussion protocol and thus was good to go for Monday night.

Now into a fourth season, no Lions' player listed as doubtful has played in the subsequent game under Campbell. So it seems, as a practical matter, Branch may as well been downgraded all the way to out. In general late downgrades are bad for the prospects someone will be able to play in a game, but the door was officially kept open for Branch to play Monday night.

Here are the Week 4 inactives for the Lions.

C Frank Ragnow
DB Brian Branch
OL Giovanni Manu
WR Isaiah Williams

Erik Schlitt of Pride of Detroit nicely explained why the Lions only have four inactive players for Monday night.

"Because the Lions have eight offensive linemen active for Sunday’s game, they are eligible to expand their game-day roster from 47 to 48 players. Therefore, with 52 players on the game-day roster and 48 eligible to play, the Lions need to declare just four players inactive for today’s matchup."

And here are the Week 4 inactives for the Seahawks.

DT Leonard Williams
OLB Boye Mafe
DT Byron Murphy II
OLB Uchenna Nwosu
LB Jerome Baker
OT Michael Jerrell
OG Sataoa Laumea

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