Lions inactives vs. Packers: Brian Branch and Cade Mays are back, while 2 players are beginning to look like 2027 players
Detroit is the healthiest it has been all season, with Branch and Mays making their 2026 debuts and five healthy players left inactive against Green Bay.
The Detroit Lions are set to play their first divisional game of the year when they play the Green Bay Packers in just a couple of hours. But first, we now know who will play in this game and who won’t; here’s this week’s inactives:
Bishop Fitzgerald
With Brian Branch back and Keith Abney taking a safety role, Fitzgerald continues to look like someone who is going to be more of a 2027 player than a 2026 player. It wouldn’t be the first time the Lions have stashed a player on their 53-man roster that they had no intention of using.
Ahmed Hassanein
It kind of felt like this might be Hassanein’s first regular-season game after his Instagram story from Saturday featured Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, which features the quote “It’s been a long time coming” in the chorus. But the wait continues. No Hassanein this week.
Jackson Meeks
Like Fitzgerald, Meeks seems like a 2027 product as well. Even though we have seen him a little bit this year, the Lions are going with Tyler Conklin, and if you listen to Dan Campbell earlier in the week, we might see some Thomas Gordon at some point too.
Mekhi Wingo and Seth McLaughlin
Wingo might just be an emergency guy at this point. If the Lions are healthy on the interior, we may never see him play. As for McLaughlin, with Cade Mays’ return, it makes sense that he’s not playing. The real question now is if he stays on the 53-man roster much longer. The Lions don’t need to carry three centers when two of them are really good.
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