Cowboys cornerback Kelvin Joseph has been cleared of wrongdoing by Dallas County officials following an investigation into his involvement in a fatal shooting last March.
Joseph’s innocence was first reported by Mickey Spagnola of DallasCowboys.com. Spagnola had this to say regarding the situation:
“There has been a lot of speculation over [Joseph’s] availability after being a passenger in a car from where a fatal drive-by shooting took place late March in Dallas. But from I’ve learned, Joseph, who was not involved in the shooting, has been cleared by Dallas County officials, being truthful and forthcoming during the investigation, and remember he never was arrested or charged with anything. Now as for the NFL, that is a different matter, and its movement is at glacier speeds when coming to incidents such as this. The Cowboys have stood firm on the issue that the 22-year-old is good to go from a legal standpoint.”
The fatal shooting happened outside OT Tavern in Dallas and a 20-year-old man was killed as a result of the incident. Two others are currently in jail on murder charges for their roles in the crime.
Joseph was initially identified from security camera footage because he was wearing a necklace engraved with ‘YKDV’, and Joseph is a rapper with the stage name YKDV Bossman Fat.
On Sunday, Joseph posted this on his Twitter account:
The Cowboys and Mike McCarthy have shown support for the 21-year-old through the offseason. McCarthy previously had this to say:
“I understand the concern, and I just want you to know that when the situation occurred, we had a lot of internal conversation that was really in-depth. Based off the information we’ve been given, we felt it was important to support him.”
While Joseph has been cleared legally, he could still face suspension if he was deemed to have violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
For now, Joseph is in the mix for what promises to be an intense cornerback competition during Cowboys training camp. Joseph played college ball at LSU in 2018 before transferring and playing one season at Kentucky in 2020. He was then drafted by Dallas in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Joseph was only 20 years old when Dallas kicked off last season.
Joseph started his rookie season on the IR and didn’t get much playing time after being activated in Week 7. Trevon Diggs and Anthony Brown are locks as starters at cornerback heading into the season. But due to the lack of time on the field last season, Joseph is thrust into competition with Jourdan Lewis, Nahshon Wright and DaRon Bland, among others.
In 10 games last season, Joseph had 16 total tackles, two passes defended and one fumble recovery.
