Overview
- The Detroit Lions opened 21-day practice-evaluation windows Wednesday and had Pro Bowl safety Brian Branch and center Cade Mays back on the grass with Branch listed as a limited participant.
- Branch is returning from a December Achilles tear, is not expected to play in Week 5, and will use the Week 6 bye to ramp up with a possible season debut after the bye around Oct. 25.
- Under NFL rules the club must either activate each player to the 53-man roster within 21 days or keep them on PUP/IR for the rest of the season, creating a hard roster deadline for Detroit.
- Cade Mays is cleared to practice after a training-camp wrist injury and is expected to slide into the starting center role, a move that could push Juice Scruggs to guard and alter run-blocking and protection alignments.
- The returns address an injured, error-prone secondary and a thin offensive line but leave risk for the team because a failed activation would cost Detroit a starter for the season and complicate depth behind Branch and Mays.