{"id":969,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/969","headline":"Lions plan to have Branch and Mays back against Packers","dek":"Coming off the bye, Detroit (3-2) expects to return its safety and center for Sunday's division clash with Green Bay (4-2).","body":"The Lions are getting reinforcements just in time for a tough stretch of division games. Head coach Dan Campbell said Monday that safety Brian Branch and center Cade Mays are both expected to play this week against the Packers, barring any setbacks between now and kickoff.\n\nBranch and Mays returned to practice a couple of weeks ago, and the coaching staff has been easing them back in. Campbell was careful not to promise a full workload for either player right away. \"I think that'd be asking a lot to say he's going to play 70 plays,\" he said, adding that the team feels Branch can handle a solid chunk of snaps.\n\nTo help manage the ramp-up, Detroit shifted its practice schedule this week, working out on a day it normally would have off so players like Branch and Mays could get extra reps before a built-in rest day. Campbell said that approach should give the staff a clearer picture of what both players can handle by game time.\n\nThe Lions are coming off their bye and face a stretch of back-to-back games against NFC North rivals, starting with Green Bay.","published_at":"2026-10-21T00:20:15.583659+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Fun, exciting? Lions and Dan Campbell eager to mix it up vs. NFC North rivals","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7705543/2026/10/20/lions-bye-week-dan-campbell-nfc-north-packers/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Detroit Lions planning on playing Brian Branch, Cade Mays vs. Packers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/detroit-lions-planning-playing-brian-204531675.html"},{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"Lions plan to have Brian Branch, Cade Mays in lineup this week","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/lions-plan-to-have-brian-branch-cade-mays-in-lineup-this-week"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Lions plan to have Brian Branch, Cade Mays in lineup this week","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lions-plan-brian-branch-cade-163034115.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Detroit Lions plan to have Brian Branch, Cade Mays back for Packers game","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/detroit-lions-plan-brian-branch-170652824.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Detroit Lions plan to have Brian Branch, Cade Mays back for Packers game","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/detroit-lions-plan-brian-branch-170652837.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dan Campbell Announces Decision on Brian Branch, Cade Mays","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dan-campbell-announces-decision-brian-171659146.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Lions still ironing out plans for Brian Branch, Cade Mays vs. Packers","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lions-still-ironing-plans-brian-173038046.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"How should the Detroit Lions handle Cade Mays’ return?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/detroit-lions-handle-cade-mays-113042484.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2026/10/19171410/2026-10-14T050643Z_2119986281_MT1USATODAY30078878_RTRMADP_3_NFL-DETROIT-LIONS-AT-ARIZONA-CARDINALS-scaled.jpg","credit":"The Athletic","width":2560},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}