Detroit Lions rookies report to training camp on Saturday, and veterans will follow on Monday. One of the first steps for players upon their return to the Meijer Performance Center is to get a physical prior to taking the field. That means those who aren’t ready will be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) or Non-Football Injury (NFI) list until they are medically cleared.
Many eyes will be on whether Lions safety Kerby Joseph will start camp on the PUP list due to the knee injury he’s
been dealing with for nearly an entire year. But Joseph offered some vaguely optimistic words about his current health via Twitter on Saturday morning. Responding to a tweet that was wondering whether Joseph would start training camp on the PUP list, Joseph replied, “How much yall wanna bet im not on there”
Joseph missed the last 11 games of last season with this knee injury, and the prognosis for his condition has always been murky at best. Surgery apparently has not been an option for his knee, and last season both Joseph and Lions coach Dan Campbell suggested this was something he is always going to have to manage.
Even if Joseph avoids the PUP list, it’s hard to know how Detroit will manage his injury in training camp and the preseason. In the spring, Campbell said they didn’t really know what to expect from Joseph’s knee and they’ll really only know for sure once he’s out there on the field testing it.
“We’re just slowly building, continuing to strengthen there. He’s getting treatment; he’s done some of these different things in different places to try and help,” Campbell said in June. “So I feel good about that. I feel good about that we’ve done everything we can and so has he. So we won’t know. Honestly, we probably won’t know until we get into the thick of training camp.”
The Lions’ first training camp practice is currently scheduled for Wednesday.
