Just a year ago, Karl Joseph was leaving the team that drafted him to sign a one-year deal with the Cleveland Browns. Now a free agent again, he was not swiped up among the first waves of signees. Then the Raiders came calling and the former Raiders 14th overall pick jumped at the chance to return where his career began.
“First off I never wanted to leave,” Joseph said over video conference call. “This is my home. I was drafted here. I feel like I was born to be a Raider. So, I got the opportunity, spoke to coach Gruden, and I knew I had to come take a visit and just sit down and talk to him. We spoke for a while yesterday and it felt right. I took some time to think it over and talked to my family about it, and it just felt like the right decision to come back and help finish what I started here.”
The Raiders aren’t in the same city as when Joseph suited up for them. They are in Las Vegas now. Though fans have yet to see them live there.
Joseph was well-liked by the Raiders, he just couldn’t stay on the field. He missed the final seven games of the 2019 season and the team seemed to move on from him, even if he didn’t want to move on from them.
In his one season in Cleveland, Joseph appeared in 14 games with eight starts. That was his most games he’s appeared in since 2017. The result was his best tackle numbers since 2017 and his most pass breakups (4) since his rookie season (6). He has had one interception in each of his five NFL seasons.