Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph has had an extremely long road to get back on the field after suffering a knee injury that caused him to miss most of the 2025 season. Over a year after his last game appearance, Joseph made his first practice appearance this week. And on Friday, after two days of work on the field, Joseph spoke with the media for a brief three minutes.
“Nostalgic, man. Nostalgic, brah. Just being back out feels nostalgic, man,” Joseph said about his first practices of the season.
Joseph was absent from the media availability portion of Friday’s practice, and while he didn’t provide any insight into why he took the day off, he insisted he was still putting in plenty of work behind the scenes, and that sometimes he works “in silence.” Detroit News reporter Nolan Bianchi later confirmed that Joseph did indeed attend practice, joining the team after the media viewing window closed.
It’s obviously been a tough journey for Joseph. While he wasn’t ready to detail all the treatments and steps it took for him to get back on the field—he directed reporters to his YouTube page, where he’ll “tell y’all everything you need to know”—he did talk about some of the emotional journey.
“I know how to keep my head in focus, man. I just have to get on my knees and pray. You know what I’m saying?” Joseph said. “There’s going to be ups and downs in this league. I’m known that from rookie year. (It’s been) a roller coaster, especially with this knee. Man, I’m praying more for the ups than downs. If I go down, I know the only way is up.”
Joseph didn’t provide a timeline for his return, just noting that he is “Zuper eager” to get back on the field and he’ll take the field when God wants him to be on the field. But he did offer a warning.
“I haven’t practiced in a long time, so this week felt pretty good being out there. I’m still him. I hope y’all ain’t forget. I’m still him.”
Coach Dan Campbell provided a bit of a clearer map for recovery.
“We just kind of progress him slowly here, work him in. We get him a little bit more today of that type of work. Plus, we surplus after the fact,” Campbell said. “We still do some rehabilitation, get him some of those miles that he’s not getting right now that he normally gets, the running, the volume. And then next week we’ll have him in real practice. So, he’ll sort of do the indi(viduals) and all that. That’ll be the plan.”
With Joseph’s 21-day window open, the Lions can activate him to the 53-man roster at any point. That won’t happen this week against the Vikings, but Detroit will have to make a determination on Joseph’s status by November 18, prior to their Week 11 game against the Buccaneers.
