by: Barkley Truax 48 minutes ago BarkleyTruax
Detroit Lions defensive backs wore Brian Branch jerseys to Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Branch is serving a one-game suspension for his role in last week’s postgame altercation between him and Kansas City Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster .
“We in his corner,” Lions cornerback Amik Robertson told media after defeating the Bucs 24-9. “We love him.”
All the Lions DBs wore Brian Branch jerseys to the game today to support their suspended brother pic.twitter.com/vKw56XT2Ew
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) October 21, 2025
According to Kory Woods of MLive, Rock Ya-Sin and Thomas Harper also wore Branch jerseys to show their support for their suspended teammate. Branch is expected back with the team this week when practice resumes, as he was only serving a one-game suspension.
The incident that kept Branch out of the Week 7 Monday Night Football matchup occurred directly after the Lions’ 30-17 loss to the Chiefs last week. When the clock hit triple zero’s, Branch appeared to decline a handshake attempt from Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes .
Smith-Schuster appeared to take exception to Branch’s decision. This led to the pair exchanging words before Branch struck the Chiefs wideout in the helmet.
Branch was moved away from the situation by teammates but Smith-Schuster followed. The Lions defender pulled Smith-Schuster down to the ground by his face mask, and a scrum to separate the pair ensued.