At this point, there's not much else Kerby Joseph and the Lions can do. Either his knee will respond favorably when he pushes it in training camp, or it won't. Either the Lions will have their All-Pro safety back on the field this season, or they won't.
Joseph's degenerative knee issue that cost him most of last season is beyond the point of surgical repair. The ongoing hope is that continued rehab will stabilize it to the point that Joseph can perform.
Joseph, who's entering the first season of his four-year, $86 million extension, has not and likely will not practice during OTAs or minicamp. On Tuesday, Dan Campbell was asked his confidence level in Joseph getting back to his former self this season and said, "Really, I don’t know. I honestly do not know."
"I know this," said Campbell, "we’ve done everything we can do and he’s done everything he can do to this point, and we are trying to be as smart as we can and not push this until we absolutely have to -- because once we’ve done that, then we’ll know one way or another. And it’s not worth it right now.
"We’re just slowly building, continuing to strengthen there, he’s getting treatment, he’s done some of these different things at different places to try to help. So I feel good about that. I feel good that we’ve done everything we can and so has he. We won’t know, honestly we probably won’t know until we get into the thick of training camp."
The Lions badly missed Joseph's ball-hawking abilities last year as their defense fell apart in the second half of the season. They also missed fellow star safety Brian Branch down the stretch after he tore his Achilles in Week 14. Branch has also yet to start practicing, but faces a much more certain timeline in his recovery.
