Joseph leads the NFL with nine interceptions and his 12 passes defensed are tied for second among safeties behind teammate Brian Branch. Joseph also sports the highest Pro Football Focus overall (90.7) and coverage (91.5) grades at the position, and the 13th-best run defense grade (82.6).
When it comes to raw coverage totals, Joseph is having an elite season there, also. Among safeties who have played 80% of coverage snaps this season, Joseph ranks second in completion rate allowed (59.3) and seventh in passer rating, per PFF.
Congratulations to the #Lions named to the 2025 Pro Bowl Games❗️ pic.twitter.com/wM5wOXh5tI
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) January 2, 2025
Literally every single metric says that Joseph is one of the best safeties, if not THE best safety in the NFL this season. Not only should he be a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro, he should be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year.
This snub is egregious, no other way to put it, and the people responsible for the snub only makes it worse.
Before you go blaming NFL fans, it should be noted that Joseph was tops among free safeties in the fan portion of voting, so he was failed by coaches and players who make up one-third of the voting each. Don’t these guys know ball?
Joseph apparently got the heads up that he didn’t make the cut on Wednesday night and tweeted this in response.