Joseph surprised, but happy the Raiders took a chance on him
Throughout his West Virginia career, safety Karl Joseph never doubted his own ability to succeed on the football field.
Despite coming off an ACL injury that he suffered last October, Joseph believed his name would called during the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
What he didn’t know was how quickly he would be selected.
The Oakland Raiders picked Joseph with the No. 14 overall choice.
“I’m so happy that the coaching staff with the Raiders took a chance on me,” Joseph said late Thursday night on teleconference with the Oakland media.
“It was a surprise, but I couldn’t be any happier right now.”
During the pre-draft process, Joseph visited with nine different organizations, but Oakland wasn’t one of them. Instead, Joseph interviewed with the team at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Oakland general manager Reggie McKenzie also attended Joseph’s pro day in Morgantown earlier this month.
“I had a real good interview with them at the combine, but since then, I really hadn’t heard much,” Joseph said.
Recently, the most information Joseph learned regarding anything linking him to Oakland came through former West Virginia standout and new Raiders pass rusher Bruce Irvin. During free agency, Oakland inked Irvin to a four-year contract after Irvin spent his first four seasons with Seattle.
Like Joseph, Irvin was a first round and top 15 pick too. West Virginia has produced four top 15 picks in the last five years under head coach Dana Holgorsen.
“Bruce Irvin had been in contact with me this week, telling me that they (Raiders) had been asking about me, but I never really thought much about it,” Joseph said.
Oakland is retooling its secondary and Joseph is expected to step in for the now retired star, Charles Woodson. In 18 years, Woodson was a nine-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro. In eleven years with the Raiders, Woodson recorded 27 interceptions.
“He (Woodson) was one of my favorites,” Joseph said. “It’s going to be a big shoe to fill, but I’m not looking to do that. He’s obviously a future Hall of Famer, a great one and one of the greatest to ever play. All I can do is just come in and try to do my job.”
Joseph, who watched the draft from his home country of Haiti, says he will head to Oakland before minicamp.
As far as his health, Joseph still plans to be able to participate come late July or early August for training camp.
Since Joseph’s surgery, he has rehabbed at the Andrew’s Institute in Pensacola, Florida in order to return to full strength.
“I’ve been running, been doing some light cutting and light change of direction,” Joseph said. “It’s been a very tough month with all the traveling, not being able to really focus very hard on my rehab, so right now I’m just going to have to get right back and put all my focus and time into rehab to make sure I’m ready by training camp.”