The Seahawks’ Jermaine Kearse Enigma
Jermaine Kearse is a conundrum. Kearse is a player trusted by his quarterback during important moments of football games but a player who caught passes on only 45.6 percent of his targets in 2016. He is a team-first player who grew up in the Seattle area and played collegiately at the University of Washington, yet Kearse was penalized a National Football League-most six times for offensive pass interference (only one of which was declined meaning those penalties cost his team on several occasions). He is by all accounts a decent person and nice guy who also costs the Seahawks too much money for someone who should be a fifth option at receiver. With Kearse, the issue of him staying on the Seahawks roster is complex.
Kearse is not athletically gifted compared to other receivers in the league. He is not overly big or fast. He is relatively sure-handed, however. He dropped only two passes in 2016 and one in 2015. Kearse also has a knack of catching important passes, though even those sometimes happen during games in which he has not played well. In the 2015 NFC Championship game, Kearse dropped two passes that turned into interceptions, yet this happened at the end…
(If you are a Seahawks fan and you do not remember where you were when that catch happened, you were yet to be born.)
The Seahawks went on to lose the Super Bowl, of course, because they chose not to hand the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch on second and goal. But even that was set up by Kearse being Kearse…
And this is part of the Kearse enigma. While Seahawks fans puzzle over why Kearse had the third most targets of all Seattle receivers last year, his quarterback, Russell Wilson, trusts him completely due to plays in big moments like these. Who are we to question the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the Seahawks?
There is also the issue of Kearse simply being a player 12s should pull for. Kearse went to high school at Lakes High, an hour from downtown Seattle. He was a Husky in college. He joined the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. He simply is western Washington. Kearse is a 12 who just happens to play for the team as if the football gods reached down into the CenturyLink Field stands and pulled one of the fans from his seat and inserted him into the passing scheme.
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Kearse is also the player who takes time to visit area high schools to deliver messages of optimism. He invites Gee Scott, a local radio personality, to spin class without any kind of ulterior motive. He has a baby on the way. Kearse’s character has never been in question. This is all refreshing in the current state of the N.F.L.
The issue with Kearse is that there are players on the Seahawks roster who conceivably, when healthy, make the Seahawks better on the field. Doug Baldwin is Seattle’s number one target and tight end Jimmy Graham is number two. Fellow receivers Tyler Lockett and Paul Richardson are more physically talented than Kearse. Lockett was beginning to usurp Kearse in targets by the end of 2016 before he broke his leg. Richardson, finally healthy, showed what a difference maker he can be in games against the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.
Before last season Kearse signed a contract for three years for $13.5 million, or $4.5 million average per season. $6.3 million of this is guaranteed. After this coming season, Richardson will be an unrestricted free agent. Kearse’s last year of his current contract will match Richardson’s year of free agency. Richardson has not had a healthy year, but if he shows anywhere near the production that the end of his 2016 season promised, Seattle should make every attempt to sign him to an extension. Kearse may be eating up money that Seattle needs to use to focus on players who are not the team’s fifth receiving option.
Seattle could find a way to pay all the current receivers, of course, even with Kearse possibly being overpaid. Kearse is a good person when the league seems to have problems with off-the field issues. This issue may come down to what fans really care about: winning football games or having a team they follow that might have an overpaid player whose contract stops Seattle from signing a more productive player that keeps the team from reaching offensive critical mass.
In Jermaine Kearse, fans have the option of cheering for a player they can be proud of as human beings. Yet in Jermaine Kearse’s Seahawks, fans might find themselves rooting for a team that finds itself one player short as they cannot find the money to sign a player they need due to Kearse’s contract. One might find themselves choosing wins over good human beings or vice versa.
This is truly the Jermaine Kearse enigma.
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