Lions safety Brian Branch plans to appeal his suspension, how that works, when the Lions will know, and the chances he plays Monday night

As you well know by now, Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch got himself into some trouble last Sunday night when he started a brawl with Chiefs receiver Juju Smith-Schuster after the Lions' 30-17 loss to Kansas City.

It did not take the NFL long to come to its decision on how it would punish Branch. The league announced on Monday that it would suspend the Pro Bowl safety for one game without pay. It was announced shortly after that Branch would appeal his suspension. Let's talk about how that works and when the Lions will know if he can play on Monday.

How Brian Branch's appeal will work in the NFL

Ok, let's start at the suspension point. Once the player knows that he's being suspended, he then has three days in which he must file an appeal with the NFL Players Association.

From there, the appeal will be heard by hearing officers jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFLPA. In this case, it's three former players. Former Buccaneers linebacker Derrick Brooks, former Packers receiver Jordy Nelson, and former Steelers guard Ramon Foster.

In the hearing, both Branch and the NFL will present their evidence, video, and even witness testimony of the event. This goes down much like a court case would for a major crime. You even bring an attorney to appeal. If not an attorney, you can bring an NFLPA rep with you.

From there, a ruling is made, and the suspension will be upheld, reduced, or vacated. No matter what the decision is, it is final and binding. It cannot be changed again.

When will the Lions know the result of Brian Branch's appeal?

They're going to know very fast. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on 97.1 The Ticket on Wednesday morning that the Lions expect to hear the results of Branch's appeal later that day. So we're going to know the answer to this one very quickly.

What are the chances Branch wins?

You're not going to like this one. The appeals for fighting work about 10-15% of the time. That's just an estimate. There is no public data that shows a definitive number. The chances that Branch walks out of this thing scot-free are very, very low. The hope here is that he can at the very least get the suspension reduced to a very large fine. But 10-15% is hard to overcome, and these "judges" usually tend to just defer to what the NFL's authority is on the matter. We'll see what happens.