The Lions just did something that shows Kerby Joseph is still in their plans for the foreseeable future
The Lions are showing they feel good about Joseph with their wallet.
If there is something that Detroit Lions fans are thinking about a lot, it’s the knee of All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph.
What went wrong with Joseph’s knee
Look, we’ve talked about this a lot, but this whole thing got blown way out of proportion by humans doing the very human thing of going to the worst possible scenario they could find. In this case, it’s that Joseph’s knee injury, which kept him out most of the season, is a career-altering one.
Where did that come from? Not the Lions. They have never reported what Joseph’s actual injury is, and not once did they say it was career-altering. Joseph never said it was career-altering. The very fact that the Lions refused to move him to IR showed that it wasn’t something they felt he couldn’t come back from in 2025.
But the internet doctors of the world decided that they knew what the injury was without treating the player or even knowing what the actual diagnosis was, and proclaimed that it was a career-altering injury with one side of their mouths while saying they don’t have all the information with the other side of their mouths. Fans, unfortunately, believed all of that.
At the end of the day, the only outside report we’ve seen is that it is not career-altering, but obviously, only time will tell and that’s simply due to the fact that yes, lingering issues could affect his play down the road. At the same time, Joseph’s knee could turn out to be just fine. We won’t know until we know.
But that’s obviously not the case, right now, and the Lions’ latest moves at least show that they have him in mind for the foreseeable future.
What the Lions just did shows they see Kerby Joseph involved in their foreseeable future
Just last week, on Friday, the third day of the new league year, the Lions guaranteed $8.74 million of Joseph’s 2027 salary. Now, it’s fair to mention that $13 million of Joseph’s 2027 salary was already injury guaranteed but not fully guaranteed.
What does that mean? If he had gotten cut and passed a physical, he wouldn’t have received that money. But if he hadn’t passed the physical due to an injury, he would get the money. Because he’s injured, the Lions couldn’t cut him without paying those guarantees, anyway. Now, it’s all fully guaranteed, regardless of the situation.
That is a big deal and another key trigger occurred on Friday when the Lions granted Joseph his $9,625,000 option bonus for the 2026 season.
These are big amounts of guaranteed money that the Lions are giving to Joseph, and it has to make you feel good that they’re doing it. They could have very well declined that bonus, and they didn’t. That shows that they plan to have him around and that maybe there is some confidence in his recovery.
The Lions aren’t the only ones being confident about it
Joseph is calling his shot and telling the world that he’ll be back on the field and that he will have a better season than his 2024 season and win Comeback Player of the Year. This all has to make you feel a little bit better about Joseph’s future.
Detroit Lions News
Detroit Lions Free Agency Tracker: News and rumors on the Lions’ signings, trades, and losses
Tracking all of the Lions’ moves during free agency
