Detroit Lions

NFL Films Posts Oddly Disrespectful Video of Brian Branch, Then Deletes It

NFL Films shared a strange video that came off as overly disrespectful toward Lions safety Brian Branch before eventually deleting it.

Earlier this week, the NFL suspended Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch for initiating a postgame altercation with JuJu Smith-Schuster after their matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. On Wednesday, his appeal was denied, keeping the one-game suspension intact. Then on Thursday, NFL Films made things worse by posting a bizarre and critical video as part of their “NFL Turning Point” series.

The clip, which attempted to show Branch’s growing frustration during the game, ended up feeling unnecessarily harsh for something produced by the league itself. In trying to depict Branch’s struggles, it repeatedly showed him getting beaten on plays—sometimes incorrectly—and missing a tackle or two. The segment eventually highlighted the real source of Branch’s anger: JuJu Smith-Schuster’s illegal block from behind, which Branch cited as what set him off.

What made it worse was the strange narration by former NFL player and front office member Louis Riddick. His delivery and word choice felt overly harsh and mocking. Here’s what he said during the short segment:

“It was a long game for Lions safety Brian Branch, number 32. He got burned by (Travis) Kelce’s basketball move. He got showed up by (Patrick) Mahomes. He got juked by Xavier Worthy, and took a shot from JuJu Smith-Schuster. The turning point led to Branch’s boiling point.”

At some point Thursday night, the NFL seemed to recognize how inappropriate it was to mock one of their own players and decided to remove the video. Still, we managed to save a version of it in case you’d like to see it below:

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