Raiders safety Tyvon Branch may have put himself in the picture for returning kickoffs as a result of a 70-yard return against the Detroit Lions on Sunday that was called back because of a helmet-to-helmet block by teammate Jerome Boyd.

Unbeknown to coach Hue Jackson, Branch returned six kickoffs for the Raiders as a rookie in 2008 before being lost for the season with a shoulder injury, and had returned kickoffs in college at UConn.

He’d fielded a few kickoffs in practice but was forced into action because of a concussion to return specialist Bryan McCann.

Jackson said one of his players — he can’t recall if it was Shane Lechler or Taiwan Jones — told him, “Coach, watch this. It might be a touchdown” before Branch fielded the ball.

“He comes running down the sideline, I go, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ This guy’s electric returning the ball,” Jackson said.

“It was fun, man, it was crazy, because I was just talking to Lito (Sheppard) about that,” Branch said. “I miss returning. I actually got one in a game.”

Branch took the ball 5 yards deep in the end zone and made it to the Detroit 35 to start the second half — which would have been a nice bit of momentum had it not been for Boyd’s crushing helmet-to-helmet block.

Jackson said he plans to use Branch again, but he’ll probably pick his spots. McCann has received medical clearance to practice, and Branch is already an every-down player on defense (leading the Raiders with 98 tackles) and serves occasionally as the special teams gunner as well.

Judging from Boyd’s Twitter account, he got fined $20,000 by the NFL and isn’t of the opinion his block was illegal: “What’s the point of even playing football to get fined $20,000 for a legal but hard hit!!!!! Might as well put flags instead of pads on us.”