RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesDetroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (31) practices during training camp at Meijer Performance Center in Allen Park on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co
The saga of Kerby Joseph’s knee injury continues. A day after coach Dan Campbell said he wasn’t expecting the Detroit Lions safety for Week 1 of the regular season , Joseph talked to the media for the first time since midway through his injury-filled 2025 season.
Joseph finally gave some insight into how the knee injury crept up on him last season, starting in training camp.
“I woke up, it was swollen. I didn’t think nothing much. I was just like, ‘I can still run, do all of that. I’m finna go out there and practice.’” Joseph said. “We had scrimmage, but I’m running, I’m like, ‘Man, I ain’t that fast today.’ I thought—you know, I ate good that day. I’m thinking it’s a little breakfast or something going on. It’s not, my knee is just—I couldn’t, you know. I got the MRI, I got the news.”
Joseph would battle the knee injury for the first six weeks of the season until things came to a head in Detroit’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. In that game, Joseph had to go to the sidelines several times due to knee pain. He would miss the next few games. And after a failed attempt to return later in the season, Detroit shut him down for good.
Since then, there there has been rampant speculation on Joseph’s NFL future and the Lions haven’t made things much clearer. Campbell continues to say they don’t know how Joseph’s knee will respond nor when he’ll be ready for action.
On Wednesday, Joseph was seen doing a pretty intense workout at training camp, and he followed it up on Thursday with a bout of confidence that things will turn out okay.
“I’m super optimistic. I never gave up,” Joseph said. “I’m going to always work hard. All I do is work! If you see me outside, I’m working.”
What’s clear from Joseph’s time with the media is that he’s keeping spirits high by relying on his faith. Earlier this offseason, he was baptised and it changed his perspective .
“My baptism, it was like an opening,” Joseph said. “It opened a lot of things. God opened my eyes, informed me of a lot of things. I’m just so thankful for it, because if I never got baptized, I would never be able to see the things I needed to see.”
He also referred to the last 10 months of battling this injury as his “walk with God,” noting that He is the only person who can truly help him navigate this time. As for when he expects to finally return to the field?
“Whenever God wants me out there, I’m going to be out there. God don’t want me out there, I ain’t going to be out there.”
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