When the Detroit Lions return from the bye, they could have two very important pieces ready to make their 2026 debut. Center Cade Mays, the Lions’ prized offseason signing, appears close to returning from a fractured wrist suffered in training camp. Safety Brian Branch has been champing at the bit to get back on the field after a torn Achilles ended his previous season in early December.
The Lions could really use both players, but how will they use them, and how much of an impact can either make?
That’s one of the main topics on this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast. But let’s get into it a little in this space.
Starting with Mays, the Lions are faced with an interesting conundrum. Mays’ replacement, Juice Scruggs, has been playing at a pretty high level in his absence. PFF actually has him as the highest-graded center in football, although that doesn’t quite pass the eye test. Still, even coach Dan Campbell has praised Scruggs’ growth at the position over the past month.
“I feel like Juice has gotten better playing center, just getting more comfortable, particularly on the road, silent count, making the IDs, all that,” Campbell said.
So what do they do with Scruggs? Where does Mays provide an upgrade? Will the Lions have to worry about chemistry restarting with Mays in the lineup?
Plus, there was one interesting thing that Campbell said about returning Mays to the lineup that may question the timing of his activation.
“We’ve got to see exactly where he’s at. We’ve got basically two days of half practices with him and so let’s see what it looks like next week,” Campbell said. “He’s going to continue to train here and then we got to make a decision on how do we work this. That’s what’s a little unique, he plays center. It’s not like you’re rotating a guard. So how do we handle this? What’s the best way? Can he go 70 reps? So, there’s a lot of factors that go into it right now.”
Does that mean we get one more week of Scruggs? Could the Lions hold off Mays’ return longer than expected? We discuss it all on this week’s pod.
As for Branch, I don’t think there’s much question that Detroit wants him out there ASAP to help a struggling and beat-up safety room. Detroit hasn’t had much answers on the back end. Things got so dire that Detroit played fifth-round cornerback Keith Abney at safety last week—and it seemed to actually settle things down a bit.
So what will that room like upon Branch’s return? Will Branch go back to his nickle/safety hybrid role, or do the Lions need so much help at the deep, single-high spot that they put Branch there? And who will be playing aside him? And how much of a difference can he truly make?
We tackle those topics, plus:
- Are the Lions in a better spot at cornerback now?
- Why are the Lions still bad at third-down offense?
- Should the Lions be playing more young players on defense? (e.g. Derrick Moore)
- What’s with the slow starts on offense?
- What’s the diference between a good kick and punt returner? Who could win those jobs after Tom Kennedy’s injury?
Catch this week’s episode on your favorite podcast platform by searching “Pride of Detroit” or just using the embedded Spotify player below.
If you want even more Lions mailbag content, be sure to watch this week’s episode on our YouTube channel and/or Twitch page. There we have a bunch more between-segments content.
