Kerby Joseph Supports Teammate Jameson Williams
Kerby Joseph arrived to Detroit Lions practice Thursday and sent a message.
With teammate Jameson Williams suspended for the first six games, the second-year safety donned a shirt stating "Free Jamo."
It wasn't designed to be a dig at the NFL's gambling policy that caused the suspension. Instead, he wore it to OTAs to show support for his teammate.
"The shirt, really, is just to say I'm glad Jamo is still here working with us," Joseph told reporters Thursday. "He knows what he did, but he's trying to get better and he wants to get better. We want to get better. We're going to grow from it and we're going to learn from it. This is just supporting my guy, my dog Jamo man."
The decision to wear the shirt is indicative of the bond that the two second-year players have for each other. Joseph said Williams appreciated the sign of respect.
The Lions have been actively preaching the NFL rules regarding gambling since a string of suspensions hit the organization. Reports surfaced last week about a fifth player being investigated.
Because of this, coach Dan Campbell has continued to emphasize the rules in an effort to stop the wave that hit the organization early in the offseason.
"I think, for us, it's much more an emphasis from us as opposed to leaving it to the league," Campbell stated. "We need to make sure that we really hit this ourselves hard and make a point of it. We did, but obviously not enough. The proof's in the pudding. So for us, man, let's take it out of their hands. They'll have what they do every year but now we need to put our own emphasis on it. I think that's the best way to do it, is to highlight it, and that's what we're trying to do."
New expectations for secondary
Joseph exceeded expectations set for him by many with a strong rookie season.
The rookie had four interceptions, which led the team. After making his first career start in Week 4, he emerged as a leader in the back-half of the Lions' defense.
Heading into his second professional campaign, he'll have a new cast around him. In addition to Tracy Walker III returning from injury, he'll be joined by a trio of free agent signings in Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
This raises the expectations for what the secondary's production will be. So far, the incumbent player has been impressed with the camaraderie of the position group.
"The expectation raises but also the knowledge raises because them guys just be telling everybody," Joseph explained Thursday. "The whole room is learning. Not only me, but the whole room is learning from everybody. So it's just like an abundant amount of information that you can take and you can use while you're on the field. That's why our ones are good, our twos are good and our threes are good because we all talk, we all communicate. That's the biggest thing we want to fix is just communication, over communicating or making sense when you communicate."
After emerging as a takeaway artist last season, Joseph is expected to be a consistent presence on Detroit's defense. He'll need to continue growing, but he's confident in his abilities.
His approach is simple. He views the game through a team lens, meaning he must do his respective part for the team to be successful as a whole.
"I just do my job," Joseph stated. "I feel like (if) everybody does their job, they make a play, you know? I do my job, my partner can make a play. If I don't do my job, my partner can't make a play. But if he does his job and I do my job, he can make a play and I can make a play. So it's just all about doing your job."
