New Detroit Lions defensive assistant Jim O’Neil is looking forward to working with the safeties on the roster.
In his first season in Motown, the experienced defensive coach has young talent, including safety Kerby Joseph, on the back end that have the potential to continue to grow and scare opposing offenses.
“Any time you, as a coach, get a good young player with a lot of talent, you get excited about it,” said O’Neil. “And just, ‘What are you seeing here? This is what I’m seeing.’ Any time you can coach a guy into helping him make plays or develop as a player, it’s fun. That’s why you do it.”
Detroit’s 2022 third-round draft pick has emerged as a young safety that scares opposing quarterbacks and offensive players due to his physicality and ball-hawking nature. In each of his first two seasons in the NFL, the 23-year-old has recorded four interceptions.
“To me, he does the two best things you want out of a deep safety. He takes the ball away, and he makes the middle of the field a scary place,” O’Neil explained. “When you possess those two characteristics, as somebody who’s gonna roam the deep part of the field, you’re gonna scare offensive players and you’re gonna scare quarterbacks. He has those two traits, so it’s gonna be interesting and it’s gonna be fun to work with him going into the rest of his career here.”
Joseph was unable to fully participate in spring practices, as he was rehabbing from a hip surgery. Despite being limited, the talented safety did participate in a number of pre-practice walkthroughs, staying mentally engaged in football, despite physical limitations.
“It’s huge and he’s done an awesome job with all of our young rookies as far as asking them questions, makes sure they’re taking notes,” O’Neil said. “He’s very vocal in our meeting rooms.
“He’s been able to do the pre-practice walkthroughs, which is good for him to keep building that chemistry with the rest of the defensive guys because we do have a lot of new pieces this year. So, just him being out there and getting those 20-to-25 reps before practice starts has been huge for him.”
