NFL suspends Lions safety Brian Branch one game for role in postgame fight on Sunday

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The NFL suspended Lions safety Brian Branch one game on Monday for his role in a postgame fight following Detroit’s 30-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the league announced.

“Your aggressive, non-football act was entirely unwarranted, posed a serious risk of injury, and clearly violated the standards of conduct and sportsmanship expected of NFL players,” NFL VP of football operations Jon Runyan said in a statement. “Your conduct reflected poorly on the NFL and has no place in our game.”

Branch sparked a skirmish on Sunday night when he struck Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in the face following a game-ending kneel down from Patrick Mahomes. Smith-Schuster proceeded to confront Branch, who grabbed the receiver’s facemask and threw him to the ground, which sparked a larger fight that marred what had been a competitive game between two Super Bowl contenders.

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Lions head coach Dan Campbell publicly admonished Branch for his behavior when speaking to reporters following the game.

“Let me start with this,” Campbell said. “I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable and it’s not going to be accepted here. It’s not what we do, it’s not what we’re about. I apologized to coach [Andy] Reid and the Chiefs and Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here, and it’s not gonna be OK. He knows it, our team knows it. That’s not what we do.”

Branch later apologized for his actions.

“I did a real childish thing,” Branch told reporters on Sunday night. “I’m tired of people doing stuff in between plays and refs don’t catch it. They be trying to bully me out there. I shouldn’t have did it, it was childish.”

Branch has a past history of controversial play. He entered Week 6 with three fines for a combined $34,784 already this season (one unsportsmanlike conduct infraction and two unnecessary roughness violations). Branch was fined seven times by the NFL during the 2024 season.

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