NFL's New PUP Rule: Boost for Lions' Brian Branch

It's March 31st. This is NFL News Today, powered by AI Your Gridiron Update. I'm Cori with the story.

The NFL just dropped some big rule changes on Tuesday, approving five playing rules, three bylaws, and one key resolution.

The spotlight's on that new resolution, tweaking the reserve physically, unable to perform list, or PUP.

Under the old setup, players starting the season on PUP had to sit out the first four games and all practices during that stretch.

Now, they can jump back into practice after just two weeks, though they still miss those initial four games.

This hits home for the Detroit Lions and Safety Brian Branch, who tore his Achilles back on December 4th against the Cowboys.

If he lands on PUP, that early practice window could fast track him to game shape sooner.

Lions fans remember how a win, with guys like Alim McNeil and Malcolm Rodriguez after their ACL tears.

They needed two to four weeks of practice reps before playing.

Branch could shave time off that, maybe suiting up by week five instead of waiting till week eight or nine.

Teams like Detroit Game Flexibility, too, holding a roster spot while ramping players up efficiently, setting the stage for stronger mid-season pushes.