Kerby Joseph ran onto Ford Field last week doing handsprings and backflips during pregame introductions. He ran off the field Sunday with something far more impressive: two interceptions of Aaron Rodgers in the Lions' 15-9 win over the Packers.
"That’s Kerby," said Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes. "He does that in practice. He is a phenomenal player. I’m excited to see where his career takes him."
The better question might be this: where will Joseph take his career? He's already emerged as a starting safety after the Lions lost Tracy Walker for the season back in Week 3. And he's looking like more and more of a playmaker each game. The rookie forced a fumble in Week 7, then another in Week 8.
And in Week 9, Joseph became the fourth player ever to pick off Rodgers twice in the same game.
"Oh damn, for real?" said fellow safety DeShon Elliott. "That’s crazy. That’s a blessing, Kerb."
Elliott glanced toward Joseph's locker, but the rookie wasn't in sight. Minutes earlier, he'd been signing autographs on the field. Joseph moves quickly and quietly, like when he swooped in and snared a potential touchdown pass from Rodgers to Robert Tonyan early in the third quarter. The window was open, and then it was closed. Even the four-time MVP was impressed: "Kid made a nice one down the middle," Rodgers said.
Joseph, 21, was supposed to be a project for the Lions, and he's still a work in progress. He wasn't a full-time starting safety at Illinois until his fourth and final season. But what a season it was: Joseph picked off five passes, tied for second most in the country, and was the highest-graded defensive back in the nation according to Pro Football Focus. Still, scouts weren't entirely sold.
NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein said the 6'1 Joseph was a player with "average size and speed" who "lacks prototypical instincts as a single-high safety ... needs to play with better anticipation" and is "missing the demeanor and tackle strength for the box." He praised Joseph, mildly, for his "good athleticism" and for being "fluid in space." Brad Holmes and the Lions must have had a different view. They drafted Joseph in the third round.
No one's had a better view of Joseph over the last several weeks than Elliott. The two are playing side by side in Detroit's secondary, which is desperate for more ballhawks. The Lions entered Sunday with two interceptions through seven games, second fewest in the NFL. They were allowing an NFL-worst passer rating of 108.8, which led to the dismissal of defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant after last week's loss to the Dolphins.
Rodgers entered Sunday with a career passer rating against the Lions of 108.5. Then Joseph intervened, which left Elliott smiling and saying this:
"Kerb a big-ass kid, but he a big-ass athletic freak kid. I think Kerb is going to be playing in this league for a very long time, bro. Man, so proud of that boy, so happy for him."
This game was coming for Joseph, who'd played nearly every defensive snap for Detroit the previous four weeks. Ask Dan Campbell, who said Sunday that Joseph was inching closer and closer toward his first interception and "now, he's starting to feel it." Ask Jeff Okudah, who said that as Joseph has started "to figure out the defense more and more, he's putting himself in favorable positions to make plays." We'd ask Jospeh himself, but he was in concussion protocol after the game following a collision with Elliott in the fourth quarter and therefore not allowed to speak with the media.
So let's ask Elliott again. When did he first notice Joseph's ball skills?
"When I met him and his hands were bigger than mine, and I got huge hands," Elliott said. "So for somebody that has bigger hands than me, you gotta be able to get that ball."
The first one he got Sunday was mostly a gift, a deflected pass off the helmet of Barnes that Joseph leapt up and grabbed in the end zone. Make the plays that come your way, right? The second one was earned, a blur of instincts and athleticism. And between the interceptions, Joseph wiped out another would-be touchdown with a lunging, last-second break-up on a deep ball from Rodgers to Samori Toure. He also tackled hard from start to finish.
"He’s smart and he wants to be great," said Elliott. "He wants to learn. He’s OK with confrontation, he’s OK with hard feedback, he’s OK with that. And also, I feel like he just loves the game, bro. No matter what happens, he gets right back up and takes punches like it ain’t nothing, bro. He keeps rolling."
It was quite the day for a defense that needed it. The Lions got big plays from first- and second-year players at every turn. Aidan Hutchinson picked off Rodgers himself for the first interception of his life. Barnes had a game-high 12 tackles, including a goal-line stop of running back AJ Dillon, in what he said was his best game as a pro. And Joseph just kept on rolling, a rookie who's "believing in himself and playing free," said Elliott, a project who's coming together more quickly than even the Lions could have imagined.
"I really love playing with Kerby Joseph," said Elliott. "I love him being my safety back there with me."
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