GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- When Florida linebacker Vosean Joseph announced his decision to enter the NFL Draft early, forgoing his final season of eligibility with the Gators, it was perhaps the most head-scratching of the school record five early entries. Joseph had certainly flashed in college, posting a monster game in his junior season against LSU. But he was far from consistent. Nevertheless, the Buffalo Bills were convinced that Joseph has what it takes to succeed at the next level, taking him with the No. 147 overall pick in the draft, in the fifth round. The challenge for the Bills will be exactly that: getting Joseph to play more consistently. Joseph had no doubts about his ability heading into the draft. "Whoever want to draft Vosean Joseph, just draft him and you're going to get a dog, that's how I see it," Joseph said at his Pro Day. There's little doubting the physical tools. He's a lightning-quick player downhill and can strike with the best of them. Where Joseph needs improvement is in his gap discipline and knowing his assignments. That was evident early in the season, when veteran linebacker David Reese missed the first two games of the season with a high-ankle spring. Without Reese next to him, Joseph appeared a bit lost. Kentucky ran roughshod right through Joseph and the heart of the Florida defense, chunking out 303 total yards. Once Reese returned, though, Joseph shined. He led Florida in tackling with 93 stops, also racking up nine tackles for a loss, four sacks, five pass breakups and a fumble recovery. That monster game against LSU? Joseph notched 14 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and 2.0 sacks en route to being named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and the SEC Defensive Player of the Week. Joseph just felt ready to make the jump. "It was difficult, just leaving my brothers but then again at the end of the day everybody got their own route to take," he said. "I feel like just going to the next level was my best route." The ability is certainly there. Now it's just up to the Bills to unlock it each and every Sunday.<doc-sep>With the 147th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills have selected Vosean Joseph, linebacker from Florida. The 6’1” 230-lb Joseph who grew up in Miami before playing for the Gators leaves South Beach as after his junior season. A hamstring injury prevented Joseph from working out at the Combine, but he’s known as an excellent athlete. He’s a see-ball, attack-ball kind of linebacker. Hard hitter, wild and twitchy. The downsides with Joseph are his undisciplined play and his weak field reading. He gets disrupted by misdirection, takes poor angles to the ball, and needs to improve his zone coverage. The Bills, who will be starting Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano at linebacker, are likely seeing Joseph as a special-teams leader who has the ability to become a weakside linebacker in Sean McDermott’s scheme. If Joseph can improve the consistency of his game, he could give the Bills another fifth-round steal of a linebacker.<doc-sep>The Buffalo Bills had a bit of a wait on Day 3 of the 2019 NFL Draft. After trading their two fourth-round picks to move back into the end of the third round to select tight end Dawson Knox, Buffalo had to wait until pick No. 147 in the fifth round to make another pick. After patiently waiting, the Bills selected linebacker Vosean Joseph with that pick. The Florida product joins the Bills and will have a chance to produce on special teams right away. But Joseph is likely a long-term project, too. Lorenzo Alexander enters what is likely his final NFL season and Joseph will likely have a look at replacing him in the future. Joseph is a 6-foot-1, slightly undersized linebacker, at 230 pounds. Last season Joseph led the Gators with 93 tackles, while also recording nine tackles for a loss, four sacks, five pass breakups, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble as a junior.<doc-sep>After patiently waiting through the entirety of the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills selected Florida linebacker Vosean Joseph with the 147th overall pick. The 6’1” 230-lb Joseph immediately draws comparisons to 6’0” 223-lb Matt Milano, Buffalo’s fifth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. While Joseph wasn’t able to work out at the NFL Combine, his speed, change of direction, and explosion are apparent on tape. He’s rangy, he’s dangerous on blitzes, and he plays with his hair on fire. In other words, exactly the style of player that Sean McDermott likes to play in his defense. Even as a rookie, Joseph will be able to contribute to the team by playing on special teams. Joseph needs to practice diagnosing route patterns and covering in space. His tape has plenty of mental mistakes and corrections by his teammates. If he can figure that out, this is a player who could fill in at any linebacker spot for the Bills. When you reach day three of the draft, you aren’t expecting to find starters. You’re hoping to draft good athletes with growth potential. Joseph checks that box, and that’s good enough for me. Another good draft pick by Brandon Beane and the Buffalo Bills.<doc-sep>
The Buffalo Bills have a strong linebacker unit in Lorenzo Alexander, Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, but needed to add some depth behind the trio. With their first pick on day three of the draft, Buffalo did just that by selecting Florida linebacker Vosean Joseph with the No. 147 pick in the draft. Here are four things to know about Joseph. Pre-draft visitor Buffalo has had some pre-draft interest in all five of their draft picks. This continued with the Joseph pick. Buffalo brought the Florida linebacker to One Bills Drive for a top-30 pre-draft visit leading up to the 2019 NFL Draft. #Bills draft picks: Rd 1: DT Ed Oliver (Combine, pro day, pre-draft visit) Rd 2: OT Cody Ford (Combine) Rd 3: RB Devin Singletary (Private workout) Rd 3: TE Dawson Knox (Private workout, pre-draft visit) Rd 5: LB Vosean Joseph (Pre-draft visit)#BillsMafia — Ryan Talbot (@RyanTalbotBills) April 27, 2019 Inconsistent tape There were times where Joseph jumped off the screen during games with the Florida Gators and looked like an early day two pick. He also had moments where he was out of place. In Round 5, the Bills added a prospect PFF’s No. 100 prospect New Bills LB Vosean Joseph was the 100th-ranked player on our big board, going to Buffalo at 147th. #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/TmwVjzpZTn — Pro Football Focus (@PFF) April 27, 2019 Round 3-4 projection Lance Zierlein of NFL.com gave Joseph a late day two-early day three projection. Joseph is a narrow, underweight linebacker with excellent athleticism and outstanding closing burst but a maddening amount of negative tape. Inconsistency will follow him until he shows that discipline and control matter in his play. How teams weigh the inconsistent tape against the speed and potential could cause for wide variances in his draft grade among teams. Joseph’s lack of instincts and field awareness may never leave, but a move to WILL linebacker should help as should his coverage/blitz potential on third downs.