Kerby Joseph

Detroit Lions

Pos S

Updated October 8, 2026

Compare Kerby Joseph S rankings →

Model Score

79.6 MODEL

2022

77.5

2023

77.1

2024

96.0

2025

79.6

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

2024 1st-team All-Pro plus 2024 Pro Bowl plus NFL-leading 9 interceptions in 2024 puts Joseph in the rarest outlier-positive S class for a 97th overall 3rd-round pick. The Illinois Big Ten 3rd-round origin plus the structural Lions anchor role under Dan Campbell creates the elite developmental foundation. The 2026 question is whether Joseph earns his second Pro Bowl plus holds tier 1-2 territory or whether the structural one-year context spike concerns surface.

Joseph came out of Illinois as the Detroit Lions' 3rd-round pick (97th overall) in 2022. He earned 2024 1st-team All-Pro recognition plus the 2024 Pro Bowl after leading the NFL with 9 interceptions. He has anchored the Lions' free safety role across four seasons under Dan Campbell.

Strengths

2024 1st-team All-Pro plus 2024 Pro Bowl plus NFL-leading 9 INTs in 2024 as a 97th overall 3rd-round pick puts him in the rarest outlier-positive class at the S position.
Illinois Big Ten 3rd-round origin plus the structural Lions anchor role under Dan Campbell establishes elite developmental foundation.

Concerns

Single 1st-team All-Pro year plus the NFL-leading 9 INTs (a rare ball-tracking outlier) creates real one-year context spike risk.
Detroit's broader defensive identity around the Hutchinson primary pass-rush priority puts continued Joseph ball-production partly dependent on team-fit.

What to watch: Whether Joseph earns his second Pro Bowl in 2026 plus crosses 6 INTs, the threshold for confirming the 2024 elite ceiling is structural.

Comps

Coming out

pros whose college production, size and testing looked like his

Kelvin Joseph70%Deionte Thompson67%Ashtyn Davis60%

Kerby Joseph Injury StatusOut

Kerby Joseph is listed Out (Knee), reported Aug 31. Source: the official NFL injury report, refreshed daily.

Draft & College

Round 3, pick 97 · Detroit Lions · 2022

Illinois (Big Ten)

Taken

#97

where he actually went

Our college model

#317

among S in our college data

In college · 2018-2021 · 44 games

5 INT, 6 pass breakups, 116 tackles, 2 TFL

Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.

What this pick usually becomes

Of the 410 players taken as a third-rounder between 2012 and 2021, 51% earned a second contract and 39% became starters. The median one started 21 career games.