Eric WoodyardOct 17, 2025, 05:35 PM ETCloseEric Woodyard covers the Detroit Lions for ESPN. He joined ESPN in September 2019 as an NBA reporter dedicated to the Midwest region before switching to his current role in April 2021. The Flint, Mich. native is a graduate of Western Michigan University and has authored/co-authored three books: “Wasted,” “Ethan’s Talent Search” and “All In: The Kelvin Torbert Story”. He is a proud parent of one son, Ethan.Follow on X
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Players inside the Detroit Lions locker room took offense to an NFL Films video that was released, then deleted, on social media involving suspended safety Brian Branch, claiming it was overly critical.
“I thought that video was crazy. I don’t know why it was released, the reasoning behind it,” St. Brown said. “As I was watching, I remember it popped up and I was like, ‘I don’t know if it was like a trick or mockery.’ I clicked the NFL, and I didn’t know if it was actually them. And it was. So I don’t know the reasoning why they posted it or what they got out of that.
“But Brian Branch is an awesome dude. In the building, he’s one of the nicest dudes. He’s quiet; you never see him really get mad. He’s always smiling. He made a mistake and he knows it and he apologized, and I don’t know why it’s still getting dragged along, but I don’t think that video was right.”
The NFL suspended Branch for one game without pay Monday for unsportsmanlike conduct after he struck Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and set off a brief fight at the conclusion of the game.
Reader was also shocked by the video’s narration and Riddick’s choice of words, which also received online backlash.
Riddick released a statement on social media on Friday saying that the intent of “Turning Point” is to document the events of a game good or bad and that there was never an attempt to intentionally cast Branch in a negative light.
“That being said, I can see how the short clip that was posted could be taken as an attempt to cast the #Lions or Brian Branch in a calculated, unfavorable manner,” the statement read. “I don’t want to be a part of that. I will be sure to make certain that anything that has my name attached to it will never again leave room for it to be interpreted that way in the future.”
“We want all of our shows to have a distinct voice and point of view,” the statement read. “In the case of Turning Point, that voice and point of view is Louis Riddick’s. He spends time every week with the show’s producers, watching each segment and going over the script before narrating.
“That particular sequence felt different to us, as part of a nine-minute breakdown of the Lions-Chief’s game, than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media. On X, it felt overly critical to Brian, so we took it down.”
CloseEric Woodyard covers the Detroit Lions for ESPN. He joined ESPN in September 2019 as an NBA reporter dedicated to the Midwest region before switching to his current role in April 2021. The Flint, Mich. native is a graduate of Western Michigan University and has authored/co-authored three books: “Wasted,” “Ethan’s Talent Search” and “All In: The Kelvin Torbert Story”. He is a proud parent of one son, Ethan.Follow on X
Branch’s one-game suspension was upheld upon appeal Wednesday.
Lions defensive lineman DJ Reader also said the video “seemed strange.”
