The Detroit Lions went out and completely overhauled their secondary this offseason. A basically brand new cornerback room is joining the team and then there’s going to be some movement at safety that’s expected off of that. All of this has overshadowed some of the younger players on the team that are trying to make their way.
One of those players is safety Brandon Joseph. The former Notre Dame star joined the Lions as an undrafted rookie last season and the early expectations were that he had a very good shot of making the 53-man roster. That did not wind up happening, but he was immediately signed to the practice squad. He wound being active for two games, but never took any snaps.
Despite the lack of regular season snaps and not making the 53-man roster, the Lions still signed him to a futures deal after the season ended. They saw something in him. Something good enough that now they wish they would have played him more in 2023.
“Every year we get to the end of the year and we look at these guys, and we say ‘alright, who developed? Who do we need to keep working with? who’s got room to grow?” Lions head coach Dan Cmapbell said. “B-Jo (Brandon Joseph) is one of those guys who noticeably improved last year. He didn’t get a chance to play in the season necessarily, we had him up for a couple, but to play defensive reps. He’s kind of one of those, boy you wish you could have gotten him up though. There was a comfort level by the end of the year like man, this guy we think could probably go in there and hold his own a little bit and so that’s a good sign.”
Campbell says that the Lions like where Joseph is at right now and that they see good instincts and understanding of the position from him. That’s kind of a game changer at this point.
The Lions safety unit had so many questions about it coming into the offseason and now it seems like a well put together unit. The expectation is that Brian Branch will make his way back to safety and pair up in a rotation with Ifeatu Melifonwu and Kerby Joseph and then C.J. Moore will go back to his special teams spot. That leaves room for one more guy and it looks like, at this point, that guy could be Joseph. We’ll see where things go at mandatory minicamp and training camp.