Lions furious over NFL Films video about Brian Branch: Unfair criticism?

In the Detroit Lions’ locker room, controversy erupted after the publication and subsequent removal of an NFL Films video on social media. The material, which involved suspended safety Brian Branch, was criticized by the players, who considered the content excessively critical. The Lions’ star wide receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, expressed his surprise at the video that was part of NFL Films’ “Turning Point” series. The one-minute video, narrated by Louis Riddick, presented a negative image of Branch, with a series of unfavorable plays from the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, which the Chiefs won 30-17.

“I thought that video was crazy. I don’t know why it was released, the reason behind it,” St. Brown said. “Watching it, I wondered if it was a joke. I clicked on the NFL, and I didn’t know if it was really them. And it was. I don’t know why they posted it or what they got out of it.”

Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown defended Branch, describing him as a positive and kind person within the team. He highlighted that Branch had already apologized for his mistake and did not understand why the issue was still being debated. Branch’s one-game suspension without pay was due to his unsportsmanlike conduct after hitting Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, which sparked a brief altercation at the end of the game. The suspension was upheld after an appeal. The Lions defensive lineman, DJ Reader, also expressed his surprise at the video.

“If you don’t want to glorify something, you don’t want something in the game or this, that and the other, then why launch this new video about it, which is narrated and literally highlights plays over and over and over again?”, questioned Reader. “So you’re shedding more light on that than the internet did on something that already happened. If you’re trying to move on, then move on. It doesn’t seem like that’s what you guys were looking for”.

DJ Reader

Reader criticized the video’s narration and Riddick’s choice of words, which generated negative reactions online. The player expressed his distrust of the NFL following this incident, questioning the league’s loyalty and care for the players. Riddick issued a statement on social media on Friday, explaining that the intention of “Turning Point” is to document the events of a game, both good and bad, and that there was never any intention of presenting Branch in a negative way.

“That being said, I can see how the brief clip that was published could be interpreted as an attempt to present the #Lions or Brian Branch in a calculated and unfavorable way,” the statement reads. “I don’t want to be a part of that. I will make sure that anything that has my name associated with it never again leaves room for it to be interpreted that way in the future.”

Louis RiddickThe NFL also issued a statement on Friday about the clip and its removal.

“We want all of our programs to have a distinct voice and point of view. In the case of Turning Point, that voice and point of view is that of Louis Riddick. He spends time each week with the show’s producers, watching each segment and reviewing the script before narrating.”

NFL

“That particular sequence seemed different to us, as part of a nine-minute breakdown of the Lions-Chiefs game, than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media. On X, it seemed overly critical of Brian, so we took it down.”