The Detroit Lions had one of the best safeties in the NFL this year. As a matter of fact, it's kind of hard to say he wasn't the very best safety in the NFL this year. Kerby Joseph made first-team All-Pro, led the league in interceptions and was Pro Football Focus' highest-graded safety. 

Despite all that, he was not voted into the Pro Bowl by his peers and he was not one of the top candidates for Defensive Player of the Year. As we get into the offseason and head toward the eventual NFL 100 where players vote for the top 100 players in the league, you have to believe he could be a snub on that list. 

This is not the first time that Detroit has clearly had one of the best players in the league be shut out by his peers because he's completely misunderstood. Joseph's situation is very reminiscent of former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas' story. 

Thomas is a Hall of Famer and is clearly one of the best players to ever play the game, but he got frozen out by his peers when it came time to form the Dream Team. When you look at that team which was a collection of the best players of the 80's, it's wild that Thomas wasn't there. 

We know now that Michael Jordon seemingly led the charge on that because he felt Thomas was dirty. The same thing Joseph is getting now from guys like Matthew Stafford. 

Nobody will ever accuse Joseph of being a guy who doesn't hit hard, but he has been accused by players and fans outside of Detroit of being dirty based on two completely legal hits on Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson and Rams tight end Tyler Higbee. 

Both guys suffered season-ending injuries on these hits and it's caused fans and players to completely ignore the fact that the hits were legal and that their teammates do the same exact thing to other players every week. 

It's a tackle to the thigh area and it's not abnormal at all. It just is when it comes to Joseph apparently. 

Players walking off the court after a loss wasn't just a Thomas and the Pistons thing until Jordan complained about it. The Pistons weren't the only physical team of the 80s, they were the team that Jordan and other players complained about though. It might have been because the Pistons were also a really good team. 

There's definitely been a noticeable amount of fans of teams outside of Detroit that didn't care about the Lions a few years ago, but now swear they're the dirtiest team in the league now that they're good. It's almost as if fans of every team use coping mechanisms to get over their losses. 

The problem is that this stuff stains the careers of good players and stuff like this just doesn't go away. It doesn't matter that Joseph isn't really a dirty player. It doesn't matter that he's apologized for injuring Hockenson and Higbee or that Hockenson didn't even blame him for the injury. He'll always be looked at this way and it will always be brought up. Just like Thomas and Team USA is still brought up today. 

Eventually, the cream will rise to the top and players and fans will look at Joseph differently like they do with Thomas now. It's just a shame that it's happening at this point when Joseph looks like someone who is going to be a major player in this league for years to come. 

A full list of 2025 NFL draft prospects who are connected to all of the Lions’ new coaches and have a chance to be drafted by Detroit

The Detroit Lions have a few things going on right now. On Tuesday they announced their full coaching staff and that had the addition of a bunch of guys from the college ranks. They're also fully into the 2025 NFL Draft process which features a bunch of college players of course.  Sometimes we write stuff […]