Kerby Joseph: 'I Deserve' Defensive Player of the Year

Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph had a standout 2024 season.

The Illinois product blossomed into a star in his third NFL campaign. After recording four interceptions in each of his first two seasons, Joseph more than doubled his career total with a league-leading nine picks in 2024.

For his efforts, Joseph was named First-Team All-Pro by the Associated Press. However, he was snubbed from the Pro Bowl and was named a second-alternate. Joseph won the fan vote, which accounts for one-third of the selection process, but evidently did not garner enough from the coaches and players votes.

While Joseph did not make the Pro Bowl, he made a claim that he deserves the NFL Defensive Player of the Year honor. He has a valid case as the league's interception leader, and some of those takeaways have come in huge moments for Detroit's defense.

"Hey, DPOY, I need that. That needs to be me. I need that," Joseph said. "They can do all that with the Pro Bowl stuff, but DPOY, I feel like I deserve that for sure. I feel like I've came in clutch for my team many times. I've done made plays that nobody's made. Nobody's really making plays like how I'm making plays."

New nickname for safety duo

Joseph is part of an elite safety duo that patrols the Lions' secondary, along with Brian Branch. The duo has combined for 13 interceptions this season, and Branch earned Pro Bowl honors in his second NFL season.

The defender told Meirov that he believes that he and Branch are the best secondary tandem in the entire NFL, and their collective performances indicate that his assessment is on point.

"We are the best safety duo in the NFL," Joseph explained. "Nobody else is doing what we're doing in the league, bro, nobody else is doing what we're doing. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because we're the Lions and they've got a narrative or whatever it is, but nobody is better than me and B.B. We're coming out there every Sunday to make a play."

The Lions' nickname for their running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, 'Sonic and Knuckles,' has garnered national attention. Joseph suggested a new moniker for the Lions' safety tandem of he and Branch based around his persona 'Zuperman.'

"I'm Zuperman, and he's Batman," Joseph said. "He don't do much talking, just straight down to business. He don't do so much talking. B.B., that's a certified hitter. Me, I'm Zuperman, my superpower is taking the ball away. So that's what we call ourselves, Zuperman and Batman." 

Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (31), left, and safety Brian Branch (32). / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images 
'People can't handle greatness'

For the second straight year, the Lions have had a player who was selected First-Team All-Pro despite not making the initial Pro Bowl roster. Last year, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did not make the Pro Bowl but was still an All-Pro.

Though Joseph has previously deflected questions about the Pro Bowl snub, he opened up about his thoughts on the process while speaking with Meirov.

"To be honest, I feel like it's — people can't handle greatness, man," Joseph said. "People can't handle greatness. If you look at it, I have every deserving right to be in the Pro Bowl. But they did it how they did it, and I wasn't in there."

"Doesn't make no sense. But I'm kind of glad it happened, because it shows y'all what the Pro Bowl really is," Joseph continued. "It don't make no sense for me not to be in there. I'm leading the league in interceptions, I should be in there. But the fact that I'm not in there, that says something about the Pro Bowl."

Joseph's physicality has drawn ire from opposing teams and fan bases across the league, most notably when Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford called him a dirty player while mic'd up in the postseason last year.

The defender believes this reputation played a part in him not being selected, but isn't worried about that element of the game.

"The Pro Bowl, I feel like they're just hating on me, man," Joseph said. "I've got a couple teams out there that don't like me. There's a couple teams out there that don't like me, a couple fan bases out there that don't like me, whatever. It's cool. Y'all know what's up with me."