It’s genuinely something I never thought I’d talk about here. The Detroit Lions have always had good defensive players and they’ve had guys that could be in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion, but they were almost always defensive lineman and never guys in the secondary.
Even earlier this season the Lions had a surefire DPOY winner in Aidan Hutchinson. A guy so good at his job that he’s sixth in the league in pressures and he hasn’t played in a month. The guy was unreal, but it’s not his year to win the award.
That doesn’t mean the Lions can’t take it home this year. In fact that they have a really good chance of doing it because they have two players that are duking it out over the award right now. That’s Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph.
Both guys are fully in the conversation to the point where odds are being placed on it. It’s a real battle right now, but it’s anyone’s to win and one of these Lions could take it home.
The NFL doesn’t usually give the award out to safeties. The last one to get it was Troy Polamolu way back in 2010. Since then the award has pretty much been the Edge Rusher of the Year award.
That’s got to end at some point. The award process has been a bit lazy as of late. Here’s cases for both guys and why one of them should be out in front of everyone right now.
Branch
Branch is just unreal this year. He is a safety that you just do not want to throw the ball towards. He’s second in the league in pass breakups and has allowed just 59.5% of passes his way to be caught. He has allowed no touchdowns this season. He has PFF grade of 90.3.
The thing that might hold him back is five different fines this season and the ejection against the Packers. That’s if voters suddenly decide to care about that stuff.
Joseph
In my opinion, he’s the guy that should be taking home the award. Joseph is currently the fifth highest graded defensive player in the NFL at 91.4. He leads the league in interceptions with seven and his awareness is going to make sure he doesn’t stop there.
Joseph is allowing a catch percentage of just 50% and he is absolutely a lockdown safety. Branch has been targeted 37 times this season, but Joseph just 20. Quarterbacks are afraid of him and they should be.
You can make the case for the usual suspects in T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, but both those guys aren’t playing at the level they’ve played in the recent past. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both very good, but they’re not blowing anyone away like you’re used to them doing. Joseph is blowing everyone away. That’s why he should get it.