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00:00I mean, I think media has gotten lazy on this award, much like they've gotten lazy to giving
00:05Heisman voters always go to the quarterback and MVP in the NFL, too. And it's just like what he's
00:11doing is actually like blowing me away. And I said before the season, I thought he would make the
00:17Pro Bowl. Think about that. Like, that's why I think he should be a real MVP candidate. The
00:22impact he's having on the field. Now, I know T.J. Watt has had some real high impact plays late
00:28in games that don't show up more than maybe a QB pressure or something like that, but they've been
00:34very impactful in seeing the highlights. So, look, it's when you got an established player like that,
00:40it's hard to win. I think he's laying the seeds and the groundwork to potentially be an MVP down
00:44the road like Apollo Malou or Bob Sanders. Like, John, you blew me away a little bit when you
00:51mentioned Ed Reed, and he's got a long way to go to be Ed Reed, because I think Ed Reed's on the
00:57I think he's on the all-time team. Him and Ronnie Lott. I don't know if he's got that ceiling.
01:02I don't know that he does. I don't know if he doesn't. But what I said was he's got those
01:06qualities. He's in here, too. To say he's going to have a career like Troy Palomaro, I think,
01:11is still a bit out there. He's got some Palomaro qualities. He's got some Reed qualities. But I'm
01:18not going to say his career, the projection of his career, is going to be Ed Reed quality.
01:23The thing that Brian Branch has done this year, in my mind, he's going to make at least five
01:28Pro Bowls. And he's another guy on this team that's going to do that. Sewell, probably Hutch.
01:36St. Brown.
01:36Maybe St. Brown.
01:37Gibbs.
01:39Yeah, maybe. Running back's a very dicey thing, but he's got the playing ability to do it. And
01:45that just says why this team is so good, man. Because you guys are all in their first,
01:50you know, what, three, two or three seasons.
01:52Yeah. And so if Brian Branch, honestly, if, you know, putting that as the standard for Brian
01:57Branch, if he doesn't reach five Pro Bowls in his career, I think it's injury. And something that
02:08would keep him out for a year or prevent him from doing the things that he does now with as many
02:14varied skills as he had. Or if nothing like that happens, in my opinion, it's he's underperformed.
02:21Yeah. And, you know, I think the consistent impact he has on games, you know, he doesn't like to me,
02:28he never has a bad game. You know, it's just it and what he's done for the defense in Hutch's
02:35absence. That's what stars do. You know, they say they save a team. He's so he's he's just
02:41blossomed so quickly. He's the Amon Ross St. Brown of defense. Amon Ross St. Brown was drafted,
02:47what, fourth round. And we heard the list of receivers, blah, blah, blah. Brian Branch was
02:51there thought most people thought he was going to be a day one pick first round pick. He didn't
02:56leave and go home. He didn't bitch and moan about not being taken. He stayed there so that when they
03:02called his name day two, he could walk across the stage as he should have. And I think there's
03:08there's some animosity. There's some motivation for him. And we're seeing it on the field.
03:13Well, the thing with safeties are, though, that they're they're one of the positional values
03:17things with the draft that I hate, where, oh, he plays this position, so we can't take them
03:22in this position. And when you have a special player come along, that's out the window.
03:27You can go look at all these guys. Yes, the best safeties of all time. They haven't been drafted
03:31where they should. I think right now I'm just going to spit this out there. You could argue
03:34Branch should have gone top five last year. I think about that, redraft the draft, I'd have
03:40to go back and look at some of those players. You can argue he should have been. In fact,
03:45I think you can say he should have been the first line drafted if you would.
03:49You know, that's what he's done. And it's just astonishing. And that's why, again,
03:54this team is so good when you when you get that value at that pick. Think about it. Defenses are
04:00playing more nickel, more five defensive backs. You have to have extra guys who can be twitchy
04:05in space and cover tight ends, running back slot receivers. And the Lions got one of the
04:10best in the game in the second round, which is a feather in the cap of Brad Holmes.
04:13But if you remember, this was also a guy Lions fans wanted. Some Lions fans wanted him in the
04:18first round. And it was clear you didn't have to be a football savant when you watched his tape,
04:23that he was everywhere the ball was. And if you did some mythology on him,
04:28Nick Saban, who is a secondary coach by trade, was playing him as a freshman.
04:33You think about what that says in Alabama's defense, where they rely on those guys and
04:37he's playing some safeties playing some corner. He's just sprinkling them in everywhere on the
04:41field. He couldn't keep him off the field as a freshman at Alabama. And then he gets to Detroit.
04:45And the same thing can't keep him off the field. He played nickel last year. He's playing safety
04:49this year. I think it's a nod to the coaching staff, by the way, that they made that change
04:53because a lot of coaches would say, no, no, no, he's good at this spot.
04:56Let's not throw too much on his plate. But what I'm telling you is from the moment this guy was
05:0017 years old, he there's not there's always been room on his plate. There's always room for more.
05:05And he has taken everything in stride. He absolutely is playing like one of the best
05:10defenders in football. I think whether he wins defensive player of the year or not,
05:14that's a media driven award. The football tape is the football tape. He's a difference maker,
05:19the biggest difference maker that turned this lion secondary.
05:22It's not the only reason, but turn this lion secondary into a strength.