Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph gave fans a small dose of optimism Saturday morning as questions swirled about whether his knee would land him on the Physically Unable to Perform list when camp opens.
Rookies are due to report to training camp Saturday, with veterans set to arrive Monday. The first order of business for players returning to the Meijer Performance Center is a physical, and anyone not ready to go can be placed on the PUP or Non-Football Injury list until they’re cleared.
Joseph has been battling the knee issue for nearly a year, and he missed the final 11 games of last season because of it. The situation has never sounded straightforward. Surgery has apparently not been an option, and both Joseph and Lions coach Dan Campbell indicated last season that it’s something he’ll likely have to keep managing.
Still, Joseph sounded confident enough in a reply on Twitter Saturday morning. After someone asked whether he would begin camp on PUP, Joseph answered, “How much yall wanna bet im not on there”
Even if he stays off the list, Detroit still may handle his workload carefully once camp and the preseason get rolling. Campbell said in the spring the team didn’t really know what to expect from Joseph’s knee and would learn more only when he got back on the field.
“We’re just slowly building, continuing to strengthen there. He’s getting treatment; he’s done some of these different things in different places to try and help,” Campbell said in June.
“So I feel good about that. I feel good about that we’ve done everything we can and so has he.
So we won’t know. Honestly, we probably won’t know until we get into the thick of training camp.”
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