Detroit Lions sign Brandon Joseph to free agent deal

The Detroit Lions are banking on former Notre Dame safety Brandon Joseph to come in and be a contributing player for them in the next few years. Per Tom Pelissero, Joseph has signed with Lions as an undrafted free agent.

He played his first three seasons of college football with Northwestern, 2019, 2020, and 2021. By far the best season of his college football career came in 2020 with the Wildcats, when he snatched a team-leading six interceptions to go along with eight pass deflections. Joseph even snagged two interceptions in one game that year against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

On November 7th, 2020, against Nebraska, he became the first player in the Big Ten to snatch three interceptions in his first three games since Ohio State’s Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore did it in 2016. Following the season, he earned first team All-American honors and first team All-Big Ten honors.

In the 2021-2022 season at Northwestern, Joseph racked up 80 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, seven pass deflections, and three interceptions. That season, he started in all 12 games for the Wildcats. Joseph was voted a team captain that year. During his junior season with Notre Dame (2022-2023), he played in 10 games, racking up 30 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception, two pass deflections, and one defensive touchdown.

As a high school football recruit, Joseph flew under the radar nationally when he played for College Station (College Station, Texas). In the 2019 cycle, he was rated as the No. 1046 player in the country and a three-star recruit, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Brandon Joseph

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein recently gave a scouting report on Joseph’s skill set in his write-up on the NFL website. Zierlein likes his football IQ and noted that his skills and traits should allow him the opportunity to battle for a backup safety spot in the National Football League.

“Joseph has adequate size and a good football IQ, but he must prove he can become a more technically sound tackler for consideration as an interchangeable safety. He sees the field fairly clearly as a free safety. He has the ball skills and instincts to help coral and challenge action in front of him,” Zierlein noted.

“While he can be a punishing hitter when running the alley, tackling inconsistencies in the open field could be hard for teams to overlook. Joseph’s traits and special teams talent give him the opportunity to battle for a backup safety spot as a Day 3 selection,” Zierlein wrote.