Lions All-Pro defender, a Vikings villain, will miss Sunday's game

Lions All-Pro safety and noted Vikings villain Kerby Joseph will miss Sunday's game against Minnesota due to a knee injury, Dan Campbell said on Friday. He's getting healthier but isn't ready to make his return to action yet.

Dan Campbell says he doesn't expect S Kerby Joseph (knee) to play on Sunday vs. the Vikings. Says he's getting better, but it's going to take a minute.
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 31, 2025

Joseph, a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, is best known to Vikings fans for the controversial helmet-to-knee hit that tore T.J. Hockenson's ACL in December 2023. He then did the same thing to Rams tight end Tyler Higbee a few weeks later in the postseason. Joseph has been involved in other controversial moments, whether on the field or involving social media posts off of it.

He's also the most successful ball hawk in the NFL today. Joseph had four interceptions as a rookie, four in his second season, and then led the league with nine of them in 2024, which earned him a first team All-Pro selection. He was PFF's highest-graded safety in the league last season. Already this year, Joseph had three picks in six games before missing Detroit's most recent contest because of his knee injury.

Since he came into the league in 2022, Joseph's 20 interceptions are easily the most of any player. Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland is in second place with 15. Even if you expand the sample back to 2021, no other player has more than 17. If you expand it back to 2020, two years before Joseph was drafted, you get one player with 21 INTs (Justin Simmons) and one other with 20 (Trevon Diggs).

In the 2023 Christmas Eve game where Hockenson got hurt, Joseph picked off Nick Mullens twice in a 30-24 Lions win.

Dec 24, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (31) intercepts a pass intended for Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison (3) during the second quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

From a football standpoint, it's big for J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings that Joseph won't be out there on Sunday. The Lions do have another star safety in Brian Branch, who returns after serving a one-game suspension. But playing alongside him, instead of Joseph, will likely be former undrafted free agent Thomas Harper, who has 270 NFL defensive snaps to his name over two seasons.

To be clear, the Lions' defense still poses quite the challenge for McCarthy and the Vikings this weekend. Under new coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who was promoted after Aaron Glenn left, they rank fourth in opponent EPA per play. Aidan Hutchinson, Jack Campbell, and Branch are all having incredible seasons. Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alex Anzalone, and DJ Reader are among the other standouts.

It's a stout group, but no Joseph on the back end is significant news.

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