Getting Defensive Former Qb Joseph Is Finding New Life In Seattle Seahawks’ Secondary

He didn’t make it as an NFL quarterback, which isn’t to say he couldn’t.

When Kerry Joseph thinks about it - which these days isn’t that often - he believes he could quarterback an NFL offense.

A 215-foot javelin thrower in college, he threw something like 67 TD passes at McNeese State, where as a senior he was player of the year in the Southland Conference.

The Cincinnati Bengals were impressed enough to keep him as their third quarterback on the 53-player roster through 1996.

But Joseph didn’t play a down and by the end of the year had his walking papers.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, he caught on with the Redskins, who looked at him, tried him at running back, and cut him loose.

That might have been enough discouragement for one career but Kerry Joseph is not easily dissuaded. Working out for the Saints, he ran into Chet Franklin, then the player personnel director at New Orleans.

Franklin told him he could play in this league.

As a defensive back.

Joseph had tried NFL Europe as a quarterback in London. the experience, he says, was a disaster on and off the field. his relationship with his girlfriend, now his wife, was stretched.

But back he went, this time to Germany, and this time as a defensive back.

“I searched, I thought about it, and went ahead and made a run at it,” said Joseph, who grew up in New Iberia, La., home of Tabasco pepper sauces.

His professional prospects are suddenly as hot as his hometown’s famous sauce.

On Tuesday he was in deep zone coverage in the nickel package with the Seattle Seahawks’ first-unit defense when quarterback Brock Huard’s pass was tipped.

Positioned perfectly, Joseph picked it off, earning yet another compliment from coach Mike Holmgren.

“He works so hard,” Holmgren said after practice in Cheney. “You have to find a place for a player who’s willing to do that. It’ll be an interesting thing (the competition) at safety.”

It was in the spring of ‘98, at practice in Dusseldorf, Germany, when Joseph discovered that he not only could play defense, he actually liked it.

It’s the stalking, the hitting, the rush of turning what he learned as a quarterback against the guys who now play the glamour position he coveted.

Re-inventing himself as a DB changed his life. He earned $18,000 for his season as a quarterback, and “peanuts compared to this,” he said, as a World League DB.

He also picked up a wealth of experience.

“I went back to Europe not to turn it into a party and have fun but to concentrate on getting back into football,” he said.

His strong ‘98 season prompted the Seahawks to sign him. He made it in Seattle by throwing himself into the work of special teams, a protected quarterback in college suddenly flying around on kick teams like he’d been doing it forever.

“It was tough after playing quarterback all my life,” Joseph said. “Fortunately I had the athletic talent to make that switch. Being a quarterback helps me now. You have a feeling for what the offense is doing and how the quarterback is trying to set you up.” He still does his part on kick teams but he’s made it clear he’s got other goals.

“I’m not out here just to be a backup, I’m trying to compete, to make the guys in front of me better, and to try and win a spot,” he said.

Pampered athlete?

Cut by two NFL teams, he’s laying the groundwork for a career with what appears to be total commitment.

“I had to pay a whole lot of dues,” he said. “I’ve been through some good times and bad times and I’ve adjusted. That’s what drives me. I think of what I’ve been through to get here.

“I’ll never be complacent.”

Ever give a second thought to returning to his first love, the quarterback position?

“I’ve seen a lot of quarterbacks and I feel I have the talent to play the position,” Joseph said. “But the opportunity wasn’t there. I’ve put it in the back of my mind. Let it rest.

“I might never be a quarterback in the NFL but I can make a good living doing what I’m doing.”