James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
HEIGHT: 6’1″
WEIGHT: 200
POSITIVES
— Shows good range as a deep safety. Able to track the ball well in the air, getting off the hash and making attempts on the sideline.
— Opportunistic player. Looks to capitalize on plays in front of him.
— Has some versatility and position flexibility.
NEGATIVES
— Can be overly aggressive in the run. Has bad eyes, can stare at the quarterback too often. Poor awareness, causing him to lose receivers.
— Some tightness at the top of routes. Trouble bending, often rounds breaks.
— One-speed runner who lacks a true burst out of breaks. Shows to have just average breaking ability.
— Below-average tackler. Often comes down out of control, leading to poor leverage. Looks to be a secure wrap tackler, but his blow delivery suffers greatly
2021 STATISTICS
12 Games, 57 Tackles, 1 TFL, 5 INT, 2 PBU, 2 FR
OVERALL
Kerby Joseph is a defensive back who performs best when in coverage. He played the majority of his snaps at safety, where he was asked to cover slots and to be the deep safety.
He tends to be a bit lazy in his backpedal at times, leading to loose footwork that causes him to be erratic and often out of position. He’s not an overly active player but does his best when in deep center field, where he can read the quarterback and react to the ball in the air.
Although he uses his range to attack the ball in the air, he has average ball skills to capitalize. Slow in play recognition, he is often in recovery mode. Joseph displays some tightness in man coverage, where he rounds his breaks at the top of routes.
When playing the run, Joseph does a good job of reacting to what he sees, sometimes being overly aggressive to the run. When filling the run, he comes down quickly; although often a bit out of control, losing leverage in pursuit and even ducking his head on contact. He looks to be a wrap tackler who rarely delivers a big blow.
Ultimately, Joseph flashed range and some ball skills in the pass game, but his lack of awareness brings him down a bit. His lack of presence in the run game is also a concern. While playing on a down Illinois team, he didn’t stand out much. He has roster potential but will need to clean up his game to make a team.
GRADE: 5.3 (UDFA: Backup/UDFA with roster potential)
PRO COMPARISON: Steven Parker
Written by B/R NFL Scout Cory Giddings
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