Karl Joseph was a first-round selection (14th overall) of the Las Vegas Raiders (then the Oakland Raiders) back in 2016.
His first four seasons in the NFL have been up-and-down at best. He's definitely had some great moments, but the negatives may outweigh the positives at this point.
However, Joseph is still young and extremely talented. He could still have a very long and successful career ahead of him.
As of right now though, he's a free agent. So the Raiders need to make a decision on whether or not they even want to bring him back.
According to head coach Jon Gruden, they are weighing their options.
Gruden on bringing back FA safety Karl Joseph: "We have to see where the market is and weigh all the options. He is weighing them, we’re weighing them. … He is a hitter that made an impact for us this year. He really improved in Year 2 of our system.” #Raiders
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) February 27, 2020
Joseph appeared in just nine games last season. That was the fewest of his career. However, he actually had one more tackle than he had the year prior when he played in 13 games.
Joseph also had one fumble recovery, one interception and three pass deflections.
It's not all about the numbers though. Gruden feels Joseph improved nicely in his second year under the new regime.
Could that improvement be enough to get the Raiders interested in Joseph? There's a pretty simple problem. The safety is still just 26. And despite having some issues, he's shown plenty of flashes of greatness as well.
Due to that, there are likely a lot of teams interested in the safety. This could raise the price significantly.
If the price gets too high, it might not really be in the Raiders' hands anymore. Even if they are interested in bringing back Joseph, the money might get out of their range.
That being said, Joseph showed tons of promise his first two years. He took a step back in year three (his first under Gruden) but improved heavily in 2019.
If the Raiders want to see if their investment can continue paying off, price might not be an issue.
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