Michael Joseph (American football)

Some small schools were interested, and Joseph committed to play college football at Dubuque, a Division III school located about five miles away from the Iowa-Illinois border and only has about 2,200 students.^[2] Joseph had family ties to the Spartans as his cousin Bridget Hosley ran track there. He was only about 5'11' and 150 pounds as a freshman, so the Spartans put Joseph on the program's developmental squad before being called up to the roster later in the year. Starting as a sophomore in 2015, Joseph would make three straight All-Iowa Conference teams. In 2017, Joseph won the Cliff Harris Award as the best small-college defender. He was the only D-III player at the 2018 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.^[3]

Joseph went undrafted in the 2018 NFL draft and signed with his hometown Chicago Bears on May 11, 2018.^[6] He was released during final roster cuts be re-signed to the practice squad on September 3, 2018.^[7]

Joseph was released again on September 1, 2019, but re-signed to the practice squad.^[8]

On August 3, 2020, Joseph was placed on injured reserve.^[9] He was activated on November 9, 2020.

On April 9, 2021, Joseph was re-signed by the Bears.^[10] He was released on August 26, 2021.^[11] On December 20, 2021, he appeared in his first NFL game against the Minnesota Vikings, playing three snaps on defense and six on special teams.^[12] Joseph was reverted to the practice squad after that game.

On August 16, 2022, Joseph was waived by the Bears and reverted to injured reserve.^[13] He was released on October 1, 2022.^[14]

On January 13, 2023, Joseph signed with the DC Defenders of the XFL.^[15] He started all nine games for the Defenders in 2023, grabbing four interceptions to go along with forty total tackles. Joseph was named to the 2023 All-XFL Team along with DC teammates Jordan Ta'amu, Abram Smith, Liam Fornadel, Davin Bellamy, Lucky Jackson and Daniel Whelan.^[16]