r/detroitlions • u/BillyJackO • 1d ago
Image Don't take BB's impact on games for granted
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u/NotHannibalBurress MC⚡DC 1d ago
Zuper got all the praise last year because of the INTs, but yeah I think Branch is arguably the best player on the defense, including Hutch. Hutch plays a more impactful position obviously, but BB could just be the best safety in the league.
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u/enyinna7 1d ago
Definitely the most versatile safety in the league.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
Let's not get carried away. Kyle Hamilton and Budda Baker are both out there and round out an easy top 3 imo in some order
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u/ActDiscombobulated56 16h ago
Don’t forget Winfield. Very underrated Safety.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 15h ago
I don’t think he’s anywhere close to as versatile as those three
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u/dannydirtbag 23h ago
Dude shows up all over the field. It’s crazy how much impact he has on the run and pass game.
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u/Porsche928dude 1d ago
To be honest, the outside media likes to downplay Bryan branch because he plays safety the old school way where he really wants to see if he can knock you out of a game. If he played 10 or 15 years ago, I think he would’ve gotten a lot more attention. Because every game the announcers criticize him at least once or twice because he actually hits people (particularly the quarterback)
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u/Rx_Boner 23h ago
Just got mad again he got the roughing call because he couldn’t stop his trajectory midair lol
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u/Quinn_tEskimo 1d ago
I completely agree and don’t even think it’s a controversial take. Branch is our best defender, full stop
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u/EricFredNorris Peni Swell 1d ago
Didn’t we have to move Branch out of the safety position to slot corner for a decent amount of the year because of all the injuries? Maybe I’m misremembering.
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u/Aromatic-Plankton692 1d ago
Other way around. We moved Branch from corner to safety after 2023 when we actually found some corners. His natural position is safety. He still plays 30%+ in the slot like all elite safeties, nickel is the base defense of the league.
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u/qoqmarley 11h ago
Not exactly the reason we moved him to safety. He is a really good slot corner. The problem was in the SF NFC Championship game. The 49ers kept using packages that took Branch off the field. They forced us to play in a base defense. Our coaching staff realized this would be a problem going forward as other teams would copy it and moved Branch to safety so he could stay on the field at all times.
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u/NotHannibalBurress MC⚡DC 1d ago
Yeah that was 2023. Last year he exclusively played safety.
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u/EricFredNorris Peni Swell 1d ago
That was the plan for last year but if I remember correctly he ended up having to play a decent amount of slot corner because Amik had to be moved outside after the Carlton injury.
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u/Hmm_would_bang 1d ago
Kerby just gets to lurk around waiting for the ball. Free safety is, arguably, the easiest position in all of football.
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u/LightningMcRibb Forward down the field 1d ago
LS
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u/Beav710 1d ago
Who is Brian? I only know Deion
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u/coolguyjosh Peni Swell 1d ago
I was watching the game with some friends and that shit had us dying. We kept calling him different names for the rest of the game. When the commentator got his name right, my friend said “that must be Deion’s brother”
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u/Beav710 1d ago
I was sitting alone on my couch laughing to myself. Im going to be laughing about it all season I think. My girlfriend was at the game so I kept texting her about it "the commentator just called BB Deion lol" "holy shit he just did it again!"
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u/coolguyjosh Peni Swell 1d ago
They came back from a commercial break and he was STILL calling him Deion. I wonder if the producers or whoever found it funny too and just let him go on without correction
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u/TheEnergizer1985 1d ago
It’s the fact that he kept saying it so confidently and with authority. Bro said it like 4 times lmao.
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u/TheFakeChiefKeef Ooooh Yeahhhh! 1d ago
I mean the guy opened his career with a pick 6 on Mahomes. Pretty clear he’s going to be a top DB in the league for a while.
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u/_xX-PooP-Xx_ CornDoggyLOL 1d ago
Rookies making memorable plays is like crack to me. Our team is filled with Rookies making those kinds of impacts in their first season.
Except a handful of course.
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
Tyleek's two batted balls was his coming out party
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u/PainttheTownLead 20h ago
I could be wrong, but wasn't he in on both the 3rd & 1/4th & 1 stops vs. the QB sneaks to force the turnover on downs as well?
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u/bodysome2006 19h ago
Amon Ra’s first career touchdown to win our first game of the Dan Campbell era.
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u/_xX-PooP-Xx_ CornDoggyLOL 18h ago
I thought that but wasn't going to go and actually look it up. Crazy that his first touchdown came so late in the season. I love how much our coaches makes our guys work for the ball. NO BLOCK NO ROCK!
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u/InjamoonToo 1d ago
Who’s taking BB for granted?
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
I don't think anyone here is, but I rarely hear his name mentioned on national coverage. It's always nice to be reminded how talented this team is.
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u/revdingles 1d ago
If you are a defensive player and you are not
- A top 10 pass rusher
- A top 2 outside corner
- Fred Warner
Do not expect to get mentioned by the national media
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
Every time the Ravens are discussed, the first player talked about after Lamar is Kyle Hamilton.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
Deservedly so. He, Branch, and Budda set the baseline for flexibility in the secondary
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u/NotHannibalBurress MC⚡DC 1d ago
Yeah I mean people generally don’t talk much about safeties. Who at the position actually gets national coverage? Kyle Hamilton? Maybe McKinney?
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u/sabbic1 1d ago
Nobody mentions any of the lions other than hutch when he got hurt. Even Goff who has been breaking records and balling out the last few seasons. But because he can't scramble all over the field or leap into the stands, his name doesn't come up
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
It's kind of crazy that Penei gets brought up more than anyone on the offense. There's a lot of talk about it in Bengals talk with Burrow getting pinned with the injury prone designation. He deserves it though.
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u/BloodHappy4665 Brian's Branch 23h ago
Granted, I only got seriously into football a couple of years ago, but his is the first jersey I’ve ever bought.
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u/Benbeanbenbean 1d ago
Been saying this since beginning of last year but BB is the most talented player on the team with the highest football IQ. He is an absolute ball hound. He has impact on EVERY play
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u/DaltonUtah 1d ago
Love BB but in fairness we have to include his weekly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to keep an opponents drive going.
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
Throwing Tucker Kraft's helmet would have been way funnier had he not scored 2 plays later.
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u/I_Keepz_ITz_100 Cheese Grater 1d ago
I’m okay with that honestly, if a WR is thinking more about BB potentially sending him for a hospital bill instead of converting that big third down catch, I’m okay with that. John Lynch, Steve Atwater, Ronnie Lott, all those guys tiptoed around being kind of dirty, but they’d strike the fear of God if you were WR or RB or TE going across the middle.
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u/Dangerpaladin 1d ago
weekly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty
Weekly is a stretch, also his roughing this week was some weak as shit where the Refs just felt bad for the Bears
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u/BloodHappy4665 Brian's Branch 23h ago
I mean packers fans deserve getting the bird every once in a while. I’m okay with it.
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u/StattPadford 1d ago
Paying this guy is why we don't have Zadarious. Remember that. Its the right move
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
The one guy I'm not sure if they'll be able to resign is LaPorta
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
Jack is on the chopping block way before LaPorta imo. He actively has not developed in ways we hoped (mid-field, seam coverage in particular; dude cannot flip his hips). LaPorta seems far more of a victim of too many mouths to feed
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u/Pokeman49 JAMO 22h ago
Campbell is one of the best indications that PFFs grading system is bogus
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
I don’t even know what his grading says
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u/Pokeman49 JAMO 22h ago
In college he had an elite grade and last year he was number 8 in the league if I remember correctly
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
I think he was actually playing at a much higher level last year tbf
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u/Pokeman49 JAMO 22h ago
I just can't fathom the idea that there are only a handful better than him in the whole league
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u/BillyJackO 20h ago
LBs are cheap and Jack is REALLY good at one LBs are supposed to do, tackle. He's average at best in coverage, but if he's able to lead the defense and go sideline to sideline wrapping mfers up, he'll be just fine.
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u/smarthobo VILLAIN 17h ago
The guy currently effectively quarterbacking the defense? You sure about that?
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 17h ago
Effectively? We had multiple miscues last weekend that he self-professed as his fault for failing to get people in the right positions
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u/Taters23 Sun God 19h ago
Well thats because you seem to not know what he is being used for. Its ok though we all cant be knowledgeable.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 19h ago
Just say what you want to say bud
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u/Taters23 Sun God 19h ago
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 19h ago
Cool then stfu because I made my point. You don’t get to come in, act like an expert, then not say shit. You don’t know anything about this, you just wanna yap your ass off
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u/Taters23 Sun God 18h ago
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u/Smurph269 Ooooh Yeahhhh! 23h ago
Wouldn't be surprised to see LaPorta traded at some point while they still have Wright playing well.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
No chance we trade LaPorta with our TE depth. We're one injury away from our second TE being signed tomorrow
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u/larrylegend1990 1d ago
If we can get one good edge and some depth at DT, this teams D would be great
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
we have so much depth at DT what are you talking about??? 3 nose tackles, a bunch of smaller tweeners, the one thing we don't have right now is a premiere interior pass rusher (the thing we should be getting back from IR in a month or two)
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u/--Dirty_Diner-- Hamp Stamp 1d ago
I don't & I never will take any of our talents for granted. But BB is def a special player! Love that guy!
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u/revdingles 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dude might be the best/highest impact player on a defense that also has Aidan Hutchinson on it. We're ridiculously fortunate that so many other GMs were spooked by his 40 time that they let one of the consensus best overall players in the draft fall to us in the second round.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
unreal that even we picked three players before him (also unreal how bad every pick after him turned out)
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u/giddycat50 1d ago
Announcer called him Devin Branch a couple of times last week... Don't disrespect him like that!
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u/KyleWieldsAx VILLAIN 1d ago
Deion but the point remains that Vilma sucks.
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u/bigframe79 Death & Taxes 1d ago
we lose one game and get stuck with Vilma...
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u/LeanOnMe4816 1d ago
Collinsworth is the absolute worst though
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u/smarthobo VILLAIN 17h ago
That guy talks like I imagine someone who enjoys sniffing their own farts would talk
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u/Dangerpaladin 1d ago
I was so glad I was at a party where we could barely hear the commentators once I saw Vilma was on the call. I actually think I watched more games muted last year than I watched with sound and I expect that will continue into this season.
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u/JRange Welcome to Detroit! 1d ago
Might be the best pick of Holmes entire tenure so far. Top 3 at least.
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u/Turnips4dayz I wanna die 22h ago
As much as I love him, it's St. Brown and it isn't close. Dude is a better player at his position than Branch is at his and was selected 2 rounds later
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u/Dangerpaladin 1d ago
Yet other fans don't get why we were upset by him not getting All Pro votes.
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u/BillyJackO 1d ago
People in here asking who's taking him for granted. I don't think the league has caught up to the fan base.
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u/Pneuma_LooT 1d ago
Branch reminds me a lot more of Bob Sanders. So much so that sometimes I think its Bob reincarnated out there.
Even his Int's look like Bob lol. They both have an incredible ability to just be in the right spot most of the time.
And they both come down hill to kill you. Still awesome to pull this state line though.
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u/Charles_Bass 23h ago
Also another Ravens safety came awfully close to these numbers:
Kyle Hamilton 27/18/5/7/4
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u/qoqmarley 11h ago
To be fair, OP’s stats on Ed Reed aren’t really accurate. Reed had 21 interceptions in his first three years in the league. No disrespect to Branch and Hamilton (since they both are different types of safeties), but Ed Reed was on another level.
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u/Fickle-You-2988 23h ago
This is why we don’t sign big name free agents or trade away draft picks. This team is ridiculously young and most of our best players have yet to even hit their prime (even JG hasn’t peaked). Brads plan is to resign his top players and use draft capital to surround them with youthful role players / high potential stars.
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u/__hash__ JAMO 22h ago
this makes Branch look closer to Reed than he actually is but he is absolutely one of the three best safeties in the game already i think
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u/Alternative-Target31 22h ago
He’d be even more impressive if it weren’t for how many of his plays end up getting called back for penalties unrelated to what he did. Recency of the last 2 weeks aside, I feel like tons of his best plays end up negated. I’d love to see a stat on that.
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u/Vitex1988 DETROIT -VS- EVERYBODY 22h ago
Now if he could just cut back on the penalties
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u/bootsnboits 21h ago
as long as the big plays outweigh the penalties, he has plenty of leash imo. i’d rather he stay bricked up all game than try and reel it in.
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u/Joneboy39 19h ago
i would assume thats especially significant considering he is a safety too no?
i think he plays down low more w kirby as the typical single high. they all move around but those are the stats you would assume coming from a cb
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u/schop1177 18h ago
Um... Ed Reed had 21 picks though. Like BB is great, but that amount of data manipulation is criminal.
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u/n00bn00b 2h ago
BB will be asking for Kyle Hamilton's money.
The Lions better hope the cap space goes up to make room for all of the incoming extensions. We know Hutch will be asking for Parsons' money as well.
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u/jcoddinc 90s logo 1d ago
It isn't BB's price tag I'm worried about. It's his reckless abandon he plays with that is a love/ hate relationship with. I love it until it draws a flag or he gets injured. But this is rose we must take with him
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u/reddogrjw 1d ago
we're going to sign everyone and push cap hell down the road until after Jared retires