Lions Defend Suspended Safety: 'He's Not a Thug'

“No, I mean, I don’t want to worry about all that, because the bottom line is anybody that really knows branch knows who he is, what he is,” Campbell said. “Brian Branch is not a bad person. He’s not a thug. He’s not, he made a mistake. These are things we’ve discussed, and he knows he needs to be better and he knows he needs to contain himself at times and he will. He’s going to learn from this. He’s going to be better for all of this.” 

Arnold echoed the sentiment about Branch’s class. Having spent time with the defender at Alabama, he’s acutely familiar with the type of person that Branch is off the field. 

“It’s also one of those things too, where if you know B.B. as a person, B.B. is literally one of the nicest people you could ever meet,” Arnold explained. “He’s the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back. I’ve seen it first hand, he’s that type of person. Looking at it, how they’re trying to portray him like a dirty player and things like that, that ain’t him at all. But what they do have to understand is when you put that helmet on and strap up, he’s a gladiator.”

Arnold also offered his perspective as a player. He referenced the play that angered Branch, which was a blindside block from Smith-Schuster in the fourth quarter. 

With Branch being defenseless at the moment, the play could’ve caused an injury. As a result, while Arnold doesn’t condone Branch’s ultimate postgame decision, he understands the frustration that stemmed from the situation.

“When you go back and watch that play, bro, B.B. could’ve been seriously hurt. If you go back and watch the play in slow-motion, his back, his ankle. When you see something like that and you’re watching, bro, that’s a defenseless player and you go and do something like that. His actions and what he did, you don’t justify that But then when you go and break it down, that play, he’s playing football. He’s trying to make a play. You go and look at stuff like that, it’s about (his) safety at that point. That’s my teammate, that’s my brother.

“The dude is really beating himself up over there. And he was wrong, he apologized,” Arnold continued. “But that right there, we can’t have stuff take place like that as individuals who are supposed to be at a high level and play that game. On top of that, I’m not dapping nobody up who just got in my face, flexed on me and then pointed at me in front of millions. If you want to say, ‘Ah man, you’ve got to be a good sport, you’ve got to be this, you’ve got to be that,’ at the same time, we’re also competitors.”