Karl Joseph: Prospect Breakdown (with GIFs)

Pros, Cons, and a Summary of Karl Joseph

Pros:

• Physical, plays much bigger than his size
• Dishes out punishment with big hits
• Solid in both man and zone coverage
• Excellent ball skills; can locate, track, make a play on the ball
• Discpilined player; zero penalties in last two seasons
• Great instincts, both in coverage and in run support
• Will read and react correctly without hesitation

Cons:

• Severely undersized at 5’10”, 215 lbs.
• Aggressive play style leads to bad angles
• Too often goes for the big hit, misses tackles as a result
• Struggles to shed and disengage from blocks
• Good but not a great athlete
• Not an ideal fit as a single-high safety
• Torn ACL tear in October

Summary:

Karl Joseph has been unable to perform drills as he is still recovering from an early-October ACL tear. The only thing his chart shows us is that Joseph is undersized for a safety.

It’s too bad he wasn’t able to perform drills at the Combine. On film, Joseph looks like a quality athlete, but not a great one. So the draft world is certainly curious to see how he would have tested.

Nonetheless, Joseph’s film tells us everything we need to know.

The simplest way to explain Joseph is that he’s a head hunter. He actively is looking to dish out punishment, and more often than not, he delivers.

Joseph plays with a reckless abandon, which can be both good and bad. He loves to play physical and thrives in doing so, regardless of his size. He is going to cause his fair share of fumbles and highlight-reel hits.

On the flip side, his aggressive play style can lead to poor angles to the ball carrier, and he also tends to launch with his shoulder instead of wrapping-up, which leads to missed tackles.

Joseph’s play style is a big part of his appeal, so you don’t really want him to dial it down. More so, if he can just get a bit more disciplined with those two things, it will go a long way to helping him finish more plays.

But Joseph isn’t only a big hitter. He also is excellent in coverage, both man and zone. In particular, his ball skills are impressive. He consistently is able to locate and track the football, and then can make a play on it.

Joseph is a good athlete, but he’s not a great one. He showed off some range and recovery speed, but it isn’t top-end. Not too big of a deal, but it does somewhat limit what he can do.

His reactionary quickness and instincts seem to make up for it, though. More often than not, both against the run and in coverage, Joseph can read the play are quickly react, putting himself in position to make a play.

Also, Joseph hasn’t committed a penalty in two seasons, which is astounding.

As far as his lack of size, there is some concern here, particularly with his struggles to shed or disengage from blocks. It doesn’t stop him from flying downhill and making a play, but blockers can get ahold of him or take him out of plays from time to time.

All in all, Joseph is a very good prospect. If not for his recent knee injury, I’m quite confident Joseph would end up being a late first-round selection.

If he’s available for the Raiders at #44, he certainly is going to be one of the best players available, if not the top option.

Fans will love him because of his play style, and rightfully so. He embodies the Raiders image and would look great in Silver & Black.