With Detroit Lions training camp starting soon, the PUP list will be announced shortly by the team. Whether a player shows up on the list or not will give us some information as to the status of the injury recovery.
The following are two of the most likely Lions to be placed on the PUP. For the rest of the candidates, visit Lions 2026 PUP-tentials with Sam LaPorta Surgical Update.
#1 Brian Branch
Branch had his Achilles rupture in December of 2025, which puts his expected return to action around October or November. Thus, there may be nothing to see throughout all of camp for Branch. He’ll likely start camp on the PUP list and stay there into the season.
#2 Kerby Joseph
At some point during training camp, Joseph will fully test his knee to see if it is able to handle football. Will that happen early in camp or late? An extra couple weeks of rest won’t make any difference at this point – 10 months since his last game action in October 2025.
Joseph might start camp on the PUP list although I’m not sure what value that would provide. It just delays the inevitable make-or-break testing of his knee. Might as well start ramping things up immediately to see how it goes.
Even if the initial knee response is favorable, he’ll still be on significant load management throughout camp. Recall last year, he missed a lot of training camp practices due to this same knee issue.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Detroit Lions PUP-tentials: Brian Branch & Kerby Joseph
Reporting by Jimmy Liao, MD, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jimmy Liao, MD, Lions Wire | USA TODAY Network
