Karl Joseph may be a former first-round pick, but the latest word on the streets of NFL gossip is that the new Raiders coaching staff isn’t particularly high on him.

The Athletic’s Vic Tafur believes 34 year-old Reggie Nelson may actually end up starting over Joseph – the thought of which was not particularly well received by the masses.

Joseph and Nelson played in the same system last year (albeit different positions) and neither played particularly well based on the Pro Football Focus analytics.

But with the assumption that Joseph will move to free safety in 2018, did Nelson play well enough last year to be an early favorite to steal Joseph’s playing time this year?

This is how the two players graded, according to Pro Football Focus:

Run Defense

Karl Joseph had a respectable 80.7 grade against the run. Known more for his hard hits than his textbook tackling, Joseph doesn’t have the size to consistently be a physical presence against the run when playing in the box.

Reggie Nelson was very efficient defending the run in 2017. His 84.6 grade was the highest grade against the run given to anyone in the Raiders secondary last year.

Coverage

Karl Joseph was asked to cover many of the top tight ends in the league last year and it showed in his coverage grade (56.2). Joseph is just too small (5’10”) to go one-on-one against big athletic tight ends.

Joseph’s coverage grade was bad, but Nelson’s was terrible. Nelson let receivers of all ages, shapes, and sizes run by him last year. Somehow, his 44.7 grade in coverage actually feels generous.

Overall

Joseph, it turns out, wasn’t actually that much better than Nelson in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus.

Joseph earned an overall PFF grade of 80.8 and Nelson was just behind at 75.3.

Given his history with new Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, Nelson probably does have a snowball’s chance of entering training camp with equal odds of starting as Joseph.

Unfortunate as that may be.

twitter: @raidersbeat