After hot start to career, Lions rookie Kerby Joseph wants first interception

Allen Park — The Detroit Lions were never expecting to force rookie safety Kerby Joseph into action so soon, but after his performance against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, they're pretty encouraged by what they see.

Moments after nearly picking off the first pass of his career in the second quarter, Joseph made up for the dropped pick by laying the wood on CeeDee Lamb in the red zone to force a turnover before halftime. Though it’s still very early in Joseph’s career, the turnover potential he brings to the Lions’ secondary is undeniable — and has not gone unnoticed.

“He’s this close. He’s this close. Every game, he gets this much closer to getting (an interception). It’s one of the reasons we liked him; he’s a ball guy,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “He’s got instincts back there, he’s got range, and he’s this close. … We preached takeaways last week and he came up with a big one in the red zone, so he’s trending the right way.”

After going the first three weeks without landing any defensive snaps, Joseph has been asked to shoulder all of the load left behind by injured defensive captain Tracy Walker. He played 100% of defensive snaps against Seattle and Dallas and 95% of defensive snaps against New England in Week 5, a game in which he temporarily exited with an injury.

"I'm a baller, you feel me? I feel like I'm a playmaker and playmakers make plays. ... That's what I'm gonna do. Any way I can get it, any way how it happens, I'm gonna make plays," Joseph said. "You gonna see something you ain't never seen before from me, but I'm not surprised from it, you feel me? Because I know who I am."

The Lions knew Joseph, who was drafted in the third round out of Illinois this past spring, excelled at locating passes and breaking on them. He had five interceptions in his senior year at Illinois. So far, that’s shown through — per Pro Football Focus, he’s Detroit’s highest-rated (83.3) man in coverage by a long shot; he’s even surpassed the grade of Walker (75.4), the veteran he replaced.

"I wanna tip my hat to Kerby," defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant said Friday. "I'm a young coach. I'm 36 years old, but I would say (of) his generation, that young man loves football. Loves the game. There's a difference between playing the game and loving it. He loves it. It's important to him. His learning process, how he can get better, every day this young man is trying to get better.

"I don't think it's a surprise that you're seeing him around the ball. We want to capitalize and make sure he can go get the ball. I just think with his attention to detail, his passion — when he messes up, it's personal, and he feels like he's letting his teammates down, and that's all you can ever ask for as a coach or a teammate."

Joseph attributed his early success to the number of people that "poured into" him when he arrived in Detroit, including Walker.

"Tracy's my dog. I feel like all the DBs have poured into me and helped me with my game ... so, I just wanna say thank you to those guys," Joseph said. "I look up to them for it, because I really appreciate that."

What the Lions didn’t know, however, was how much he loved to hit people — and how good he was at it. Joseph had a career-best five tackles in the game against Dallas to go along with a tackle-for-loss — the first of his career — and the forced fumble, also his first. 

“The thing that he’s doing a really good job also is tackling. I mean, you saw the cost-fumble that he had,’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “He’s a more physical player than we saw in college. That’s what we need of our safeties, and he’s just starting to understand the game of football. It’s totally different than it is in college, so it took him some time, and it’s still going to take him some time to totally just grasp how the NFL operates, but I’m pleased, very pleased with that player.”

Joseph is confident that his first pick is coming soon. He's growing more comfortable with the speed of the game, and as he gets more time on task, is starting to pick up tendencies that allow him to put his ball-hawking skills to use. Joseph said that on the play where he almost intercepted the pass to Lamb, he "had a flashback" from a play call Seattle had a few weeks prior.

"The older guys told me, the more I play, the more you start to pick up on things like experience and stuff like that," Joseph said. "Like, I (saw) it, because when I saw that play, I had a flashback from Seattle and I was like, man, that looks the same. ... So, like, I understand where they're coming from, you feel me? Cause I'm actually witnessing it, and I'm actually going through it."

Glenn, a former defensive back himself, said just as much when talking about Joseph Thursday. He knows from experience that once Joseph gets his first, the floodgates will open.

“He hasn’t caught them, which he did a good job in college of doing that, and I’ll tell you what: It’s going to break through for that player at some point. And when he gets one, it’s going to be like a domino effect," Glenn said.

"And I can guarantee it’s going to be a couple of him getting behind that, so he just has to break through."

Twitter: @nolanbianchi

nbianchi@detroitnews.com