DONE DEAL: Lions' Kerby Joseph becomes highest-paid safety with four-year, $86M extension -quac

Kerby Joseph has more interceptions than anyone in the NFL since he entered the league in 2022, and on Wednesday, the Detroit Lions rewarded him for his work.

The Lions made Joseph the highest-paid safety in NFL history, agreeing to a four-year, $86 million extension that ties Joseph to the team through 2029. Louis Bing, Joseph’s agent, said the deal will be signed Thursday.

While full details of the contract are not yet known, Joseph’s extension carries an average annual value of $21.5 million, slightly more than Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who signed a four-year, $84.1 million deal ($21.025 million per season) in May 2024.

Joseph had a career-high and league-leading nine interceptions last season and four picks in each of his first two years. He was snubbed from the Pro Bowl in 2024, but was named first-team All-Pro.

“I don’t know how you don’t make the Pro Bowl with nine interceptions, whatever that is, but he’s an All-Pro player and he’s been — he’s another one that’s gotten better and better,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said after the season. “So he’s one that has proven that he’s a Detroit Lion, he fits our culture. It’s hard to find ballhawk guys that will tackle like how he does, and I think that’s what makes him unique.”

A third-round pick out of Illinois in 2022, Joseph joins a long list of homegrown talent the Lions are in the process of signing to long-term contract extensions.

Last year, the Lions signed 2021 draft picks Penei Sewell, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Alim McNeill, plus offensive stars Jared Goff and David Montgomery, to multi-year extensions, and the team is currently in talks with 2022 first-round pick Aidan Hutchinson about a new deal that could make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

St. Brown and Sewell signed their deals last April, on the day before the NFL draft in Detroit. The Lions finalized Joseph’s deal Wednesday evening, just over 24 hours before this year’s draft.

Next year, 2023 draft picks Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch and Sam LaPorta will be extension-eligible for the first time.

A third-round pick out of Illinois in 2022, Joseph joins a long list of homegrown talent the Lions are in the process of signing to long-term contract extensions.

St. Brown and Sewell signed their deals last April, on the day before the NFL draft in Detroit. The Lions finalized Joseph’s deal Wednesday evening, just over 24 hours before this year’s draft.

Next year, 2023 draft picks Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch and Sam LaPorta will be extension-eligible for the first time.

Holmes said at the NFL’s annual meeting in April that his priority this offseason was to sign Joseph and Hutchinson to extensions, and that those deals prevented the Lions from doing more in free agency.

“We have so many of these young players that have been on rookie deals and we’ve been enjoying the impact that they’ve all been bringing,” Holmes said. “But now a bill is coming and what you spend this year, it’s going to impact next year. It even impacts 2027. So that’s the discipline that we have to adhere to.”

Joseph has been a cornerstone defensive player for the Lions since early in his rookie season. He led the team in interceptions in 2022-23, and his first two career picks marked a turning point for the franchise in its rebuild under Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell.

The Lions went 3-13-1 in 2021 and started 1-6 in 2022 before beating the Green Bay Packers, 15-9, in a Week 9 game at Ford Field. Joseph had 10 tackles and two interceptions in the game, both in the red zone. He picked off Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a third time in 2022 in a season-ending win that clinched the Lions’ first winning season since 2017. The pass turned out to be the last of Rodgers’ career with the Packers.

[ Think you know football? Play our mock draft challenge for a chance to win! ]

The Lions, winners of two straight NFC North titles and coming off a franchise-best 15-win season, will enter this fall as one of the Super Bowl favorites in the NFC. They return 10 starters from the league’s highest-scoring offense and have arguably the NFL’s best safety tandem in Joseph and Branch.

A third-round pick out of Illinois in 2022, Joseph joins a long list of homegrown talent the Lions are in the process of signing to long-term contract extensions.

St. Brown and Sewell signed their deals last April, on the day before the NFL draft in Detroit. The Lions finalized Joseph’s deal Wednesday evening, just over 24 hours before this year’s draft.

Next year, 2023 draft picks Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch and Sam LaPorta will be extension-eligible for the first time.

[ Think you know football? Play our mock draft challenge for a chance to win! ]

Tin Tinh Thanh

DONE DEAL: Lions’ Kerby Joseph becomes highest-paid safety with four-year, $86M extension -quac

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