The Kerby Joseph situation has reached an uncomfortable point for the Lions after Dan Campbell’s latest update
Joseph still isn’t ready to practice, Campbell says Brian Branch appears closer to returning, and Detroit remains without a timeline for its All-Pro safety. Campbell said Monday that Joseph is still strengthening the knee and that Detroit won’t put him back on the field until both the team and Joseph are comfortable with its strength.
The Detroit Lions and safety Kerby Joseph have reached a point that nobody wanted to arrive at. After months of shifting timelines, vague updates, and a PUP list stint that has stretched well past its expected endpoint, it’s getting harder and harder to believe Joseph will ever suit up for Detroit again. And I can’t believe I’m saying it.
Look, I get it. Part of me wants to be right about Joseph. I’m a human being. I want to be right. I want to be right about the internet doctors and all the things they had to say about Joseph’s knee without ever treating him. I still think what they’re doing is irresponsible. You are doctors, yes, no doubt about it. Can’t take that away from you. But you’re out there talking about injuries of players you never treated. I think that’s wrong.
With that said, some of the stuff they’ve been saying is starting to look true. Let’s just call it what it is. I don’t think at this point I can see Joseph playing for the Lions again. I never thought I would get to this point. I really didn’t.
The goalposts never stopped moving
If you would have asked me during the offseason, I would have told you he’d be ready for training camp. That’s what I kept saying. Mandatory minicamp and OTAs came along, and the Lions held him out. That made sense. Why waste that time? Then training camp started, and the day before camp, Joseph was on Twitter betting fans he wouldn’t end up on the PUP list. The very next day, he got placed on the PUP list. He has been there ever since.
I know what I said. I know what I tweeted. I saw Joseph running out there, running up that hill, moving around. He looked athletically sound. He was on Instagram going off, being himself, being happy. Everything seemed fine. Then the timeline kept shifting. First it was maybe mid-camp. Then maybe the end of camp. Then he went on the PUP list, and the word was he could practice after Week 2. Now it’s after Week 2, and he’s still not practicing. It looks worse than it ever did before.
This is what Dan Campbell had to say about Joseph and Branch on Monday:
“Tough to say. It really is. I mean, I think Branch has a chance to be back sooner than Kerby, but I don’t— it won’t be this week. I’m sorry, go ahead. Just one more. Yeah, it’s a good question, and, uh, it’s nothing I’m going to say is gonna, uh, it’s gonna make anybody feel better about anything. I just know we, we, you know, we were strengthening the knee, and, uh, it wasn’t a setback, but, you know, um, but there was a little time there where we weren’t able to do everything we needed to do. And so now we’re back at it, and until we can get the knee to a certain point to where it feels strong, as strong as we can possibly get it, and he feels comfortable, uh, we’re not going to put him out there, you know, until he’s ready.”
There you go. That’s where we’re at now.
Brian Branch is a mystery, too
I don’t know when Branch and Joseph are coming back. You feel like Branch should be ready. If you would have asked me during the summer, I was telling you that guy was going to be back midway through camp. I wasn’t alone in that. He’s been doing all the stuff, and the Lions keep saying there’s been no setbacks with him. At what point is he coming back? I don’t know. I don’t know why they don’t have him at practice yet.
The contract makes a release pointless right now
I know a bunch of fans are wondering why the Lions don’t just release Joseph and save a bunch of money. You have to understand, the Lions aren’t saving a ton of money here. If they were to release him today, they would save $0 in practical cap savings. Cutting Joseph now would actually cost the Lions $10.33 million more against the 2026 cap. He’s got $15.8 million in 2026 dead money, $13.7 million in additional bonus acceleration in 2027, and roughly $29.5 million in total dead cap. You’re saving $65.5 million in future cash payments scheduled from 2027 to 2029 and about $55.2 million in future cap savings, but that just means you’re not paying the cap hits he would have had otherwise. Releasing Joseph right now does nothing for the Lions. There’s no point in doing it.
The Lions owe fans some transparency
It brings it back to the frustrating part of this whole thing. Lions fans would just like to know, in some way, whether they should continue to get their hopes up. How realistic do they need to be? These are things fans should fairly know. It’s fair to them to not have to continue to wonder. If you think he’s going to play again, let us know. If you think there’s a better chance he doesn’t play again, let fans know that. They deserve to know, because right now it’s just a weekly “what’s happening?”
Brad Holmes needed to plan better
This is the other part. If Brad Holmes and the Lions knew going into the spring and summer that they were potentially going to lose their All-Pro safety for much of the season, they had to do better than Christian Izien. They had to do better than Chuck Clark. You know you’re going to get Branch back at some point. You have to do better than the veteran safety stopgaps.
This is what makes Lions fans so upset. Detroit seemingly will not take a big swing. They will not do anything to get themselves out of the position they’re in now, where the defense has allowed 41 points in Week 2 and 30 in Week 1. The rails are coming off the defense. People are starting to say the window is closed. I can’t argue with that feeling right now.
Yes, the Lions are working out players. They’re thinking about poaching guys off practice squads. Sometimes you find good players that way. Thomas Harper was a good pickup last year. And I understand it’s Week 2. No team is going to say, “It’s over for us, let’s trade our best players.” That’s not happening right now.
But if you would have planned better, you knew. The Terrion Arnold situation, I’ll give you the excuse for. That developed slowly, and by the time everything was clear, it was too late. But you knew there was a really good chance Joseph might not play, and you went with Clark and Izien. You can’t replace an All-Pro safety with two fine veteran players. It’s not like All-Pro safeties are sitting around in free agency. I get that. It’s just a very frustrating situation. That’s all I can really say. And I get why fans feel the way they feel right now.
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