Kerby Joseph returns to practice for Lions: 'He’s passed every test'

Kerby Joseph is trending toward playing.

The Lions started Joseph's practice clock on Wednesday, giving them three weeks to activate him from injured reserve. If not, he would be shut down for the season.

The star safety hasn't played since Week 5 of last season due to a chronic knee injury. He's been rehabbing the knee for more than a year, and the Lions believe that he's finally ready to give it a go.

"He’s put in a lot of work," Dan Campbell said Wednesday. "This has been a long, hard road for Kerby, so just to be able to get back out there with the guys and run around little bit, we’ll progress him as we go each week here, just to get him back in the flow of football, the movement, the pounding, all of it. But he’s passed every test to this point. This is the next thing, to get him running around. The strength in the knee is good, and the thigh, the quad, all of it.

"It’ll be great to get him back out there with the guys. I know he's excited, we are. We still got a ways to go, but this is a step in the right direction.

Joseph's return to practice comes the week after fellow safety Brian Branch made his season debut after recovering from a torn Achilles. For Joseph, Campbell said the rehab "was always about getting the leg strength to a point where it’s equal with the other leg, because that's part of your shock absorbers. That reduces some of that stress on the knee."

Joseph tried to return from the injury late last season, but lasted one practice before the knee flared up again. He was shut down for the year soon thereafter. Campbell said Wednesday that the knee has responded much more favorably to recent activity, which is what moved the Lions to start his practice clock.

"(We've been) starting to work him a little bit, a couple back to back days, doing a little more pounding, how does the knee react? Is there swelling? Is there not? Is he ready the next day? And he’s passed all those tests, from what we're doing out there (in training). And we try to mimic football as much as we can.

"Now it’s about getting him out there and literally, the ball’s in the air, it's a hand-off, him breaking from the post, and doing it over and over and over in real explosive reps with other bodies around. And we're not even there yet. He'll do some individual (work) today, all that, but we'll be progressing to get into that, late week, early next week, and then here we go. So, yeah, he’s checked all those boxes. And the rest is just, how does he react to football? Like, the movement skills of football and real bodies and the intensity of it."

The Lions will have to make a decision on Joseph by Nov. 18. If all goes well in the coming weeks, his most realistic return date would likely be Nov. 22 at home against the Buccaneers. The Lions play the Patriots the week prior and likely wouldn't want to thrust him back into action between two overseas flights.