Just about every time Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes has talked to the media, he’s been asked about the health of the safety room—and for good reason. There remains a lot of uncertainty and mystery around a knee injury that held Kerby Joseph out for the majority of last season. And fans are eager to hear updates on Brian Branch’s recovery after the Pro Bowl safety suffered an Achilles tear in early December.
Holmes gave a somewhat optimistic overview of both safeties during his final press
conference of NFL Draft weekend. He noted that both players are “trending in the right direction,” but he left it at that.
The Lions did not draft a safety during this year’s draft, and some have taken that as a vote of confidence in both Branch and Joseph. However, Holmes rejected that claim. Instead, things just didn’t line up in this year’s draft to take any safety they wanted.
“It wasn’t that we intentionally didn’t draft a safety because we feel good about them [Joseph and Branch]. I feel like they’re both trending in the right direction, but it just didn’t line up,” Holmes said. “Just like it hasn’t lined up at other positions in the past, we didn’t ignore it. There were some good ones that were out there that just got picked before we were able to, but it just didn’t quite line up. I didn’t really think that class was as deep either, so it had to line up and you had to strike right.”
That’s obviously a bit of mixed news when it comes to Branch and Joseph, but the positive spin is the Lions were active in free agency to build out the depth behind their two starters. They were able to add veteran Chuck Clark, sign versatile defensive back Christian Izien, and re-sign last year’s primary backup Avonte Maddox. Combine that with capable depth in Thomas Harper and last year’s draft pick Dan Jackson, and the Lions may be able to weather the storm in 2026, even if the outlook is questionable beyond.
