After just over a year on the sidelines dealing with a recurring knee injury, Detroit Lions All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph is officially returning to practice.
On Wednesday, Lions coach Dan Campbell announced that the team is starting the 21-day injury evaluation clock on Joseph, allowing him to begin practicing while still remaining on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) injury list.
“We’re going to start Kerby’s clock today,” Campbell said. “So, he’ll be running around. Start working him in. He’s
put in a lot of work; it’s been a long, hard road for Kerby. So, just being able to get back out there with the guys and run around a little bit. But we will kind of progress him as we go, each week here, just to get him back in the flow, the movement, the flow, the pounding, and all of it. But he’s passed every test to this point, and the next thing is to get him running around now. The strength in the knee is good, and the thigh, the quad, and all of that. So it’ll be great to get him back out there with all the guys.”
Joseph injured his knee in 2025 training camp, but despite toughing it out for the first month of the season, he could no longer play after Week 5. He appeared to make significant progress during the offseason and appeared to be nearing a return during 2026 training camp, but was unable to build the proper strength in his knee to sustain the physicality of the NFL.
However, the strength appears to have returned enough to test things out, and the Lions will now have 21 days to evaluate his status. During this window, Joseph can practice but will remain on the PUP list and won’t be eligible to play in games until he is removed from the PUP list and activated to the 53-man roster, which can happen at any time.
“It was always about getting him to the point where we felt like we had gotten that leg strength to a point where it was equal with the other leg,” Campbell continued. “And it was always, ‘we got to get it there,’ because that’s part of your shock absorbers, that reduces some of the stress on the knee. And (we’re) starting to work him a little bit, where (he got) a couple of back-to-back days, a little more pounding. Then, how does the knee react? Is there swelling? Is there not? Is he ready the next day? And he’s passed all those tests. […] so, he’s checked all those boxes and the rest is ‘how does he react to football?’”
