Detroit's defense has quietly been built around one guy in the back end for the last few years, and that guy is banged up at the worst possible time. Kerby Joseph, the Lions' All-Pro safety, is not expected to be ready for the season opener because of a lingering knee issue, according to reporting from Nolan Bianchi.
The report on Joseph's Week 1 outlook started circulating Wednesday afternoon.
This isn't a new ache. Joseph's left knee has been a problem dating back to last year's training camp, developing into what's been described as a bone bruise with significant joint wear that turned into a chronic, structural issue as the 2025 season wore on. It limited him to just 6 games last year, with his final appearance coming in an October 12 loss to the Chiefs. For a guy who led the entire NFL in interceptions the year before that, going from 9 picks and first-team All-Pro honors to barely playing is a brutal swing.
The money and the timing make this sting more. Joseph signed a 4-year, $86 million extension back in April of 2025 that briefly made him the highest-paid safety in football before Kyle Hamilton reset the market months later. Detroit paid up for a difference-maker in the secondary, and instead they've gotten a guy who's spent more time on the training table than the field.
Dan Campbell hasn't sugarcoated it either, saying earlier this summer the team basically wouldn't know Joseph's Week 1 status until they were deep into camp. Now that camp is here, the answer looks like it's trending toward no. Detroit opens the season against the Saints, and doing it without arguably its best defensive playmaker is not the plan anybody drew up.
The bigger question is whether this becomes a nagging, multi-week absence or something the Lions can actually put in the rearview by October. A degenerative knee condition isn't the kind of thing that just clears up once the games start counting, and if Joseph can't get right, Detroit's secondary takes a real hit heading into a season where they're expected to be right back in the thick of the NFC race.