The Detroit Lions are gearing up for a Sunday Night Football contest against the Philadelphia Eagles. This is a huge contest in terms of NFC playoff seeding, but it looks like the Lions will be without safety Kerby Joseph once again.
Head coach Dan Campbell spoke to the media and said he doesn't expect Joseph to practice on Wednesday, but "he's getting better." While it's good to hear that he's improving, Joseph has already missed three games, and it looks like he's going to miss his fourth straight game as well.
And at that point, the Lions should have just placed him on IR. Instead, they left him on the active roster, which took up a roster spot for a guy who isn't playing.
Lions Should Have Put Kerby Joseph on IR After Latest Dan Campbell Comment
This knee injury first popped up in the summer during training camp, then re-aggravated in Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns. He played through it before leaving the Week 6 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Since then, he hasn't touched the field, and that isn't the best. If he does miss this game, it'll be his fifth straight week off, highlighting that his knee injury is serious. The secondary as a whole has been slammed with several injuries. D.J. Reed (hamstring), Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (shoulder), Khalil Dorsey (concussion), and Dan Jackson (leg) have all landed on IR. Meanwhile, Terrion Arnold is dealing with a concussion and could also miss this Eagles game.
The Lions' secondary has dealt with several guys going down, but they were smart to place those guys on IR. That freed up roster spots, and they should have done the same with Joseph. They likely believed he was going to come back quicker than what has actually unfolded, but that wasn't the case.
Detroit has leaned on Thomas Harper in Joseph's absence, playing in at least 81% of the snaps over the last three games. In those outings, he has secured 11 total tackles and two pass deflections. According to Pro Football Focus, Harper has a 72.5 overall grade (20th among 91 graded safeties), 73.3 run defense grade (33rd among 91 graded safeties), and a 68.5 coverage grade (23rd among 91 graded safeties).
While he has been serviceable for sure in the backend, it doesn't compare to what Joseph can do. Just last season, he was an All-Pro and led the NFL with nine interceptions. That kind of production isn't easy to replace, but regardless, the Lions will still have to make things work without him for at least another week. And that's less than ideal.