He’s the blue-collar, lunch-pail, hard-hat guy who’s easy to forget. He’s the pro’s pro, the real-talk veteran who quietly helps the younger players that you do like to talk about. He’s invaluable even if it comes with little fanfare.
It’s easy for Jermaine Kearse to get lost amid all the offseason chatter surrounding other Jets wide receivers like Robby Anderson, Quincy Enunwa and Chad Hansen, but it’d be foolish to marginalize his value to this team at this time.
“When I get out there, you’re going to see me do what I do,” Kearse told the Daily News. “That’s okay if you want to forget. I’ll just remind you.”
There was a time this offseason when the Jets had 17 receivers on their roster in their never-ending search to find the right group to upgrade a critical piece to their rebuilding puzzle.
Kearse, who is scheduled to earn a non-guaranteed $5 million base salary in the final year of his contract, heard the message loud and clear: Nobody, not even the team leader in receptions (65) last season, is guaranteed a spot in this pass-catching room.
“Competition is good for everything,” Kearse said. “It doesn’t allow people to be content with where they’re at. I’ve dealt with competition my whole career. I was undrafted, so I thrive off competition. At the end of the day, I’m going to have to elevate my game if I want an opportunity to compete. So, I think it’s great. You see the guys who compete and you see the guys who don’t. I’m never going to be the person who gets upset because I got to compete. I’m down for it.”
It’s a dog-eat-dog world that Kearse has welcomed from the first moment he put on a uniform.
“Some people don’t want to compete,” Kearse said. “Some people think they should be (guaranteed a spot). But I feel the cream always rises to the top. If someone’s going to beat me, I mean, f—. They did a hell of a job, because I know I’m not going to make it easy.”
For all the talk about some of the promising young receivers on One Jets Drive, Kearse isn’t exactly a graybeard. He’s 28 with plenty of room for growth himself after being in the background for much of his first five seasons with the Seahawks.
“When I was in Seattle, I never got the opportunities that I’m getting here,” Kearse said. “I honestly feel like I’m just getting started. Last year was me…. I feel like my years in Seattle weren’t really indicative of my skill set and what I can do, because I was never a guy that they were trying to get the ball to. We had great playmakers on our team, but I was never a guy that had a play drawn up to get the ball. I was always on the back side of things. When I got here, I think it was just like me stepping on the scene as someone who can make plays.”
Kearse set career highs in receptions, targets (102), receiving yards (810) and touchdowns (five) despite not joining the Jets until nine days before the regular-season opener as part of the Sheldon Richardson trade. He doubled his career averages in each of those four categories, playing more snaps (84.9 percent) than any other Jets wideout. He finished second on the team in targets, yards and touchdowns.
Kearse did most of his damage lining up in the slot, according Pro Football Focus metrics charting yards per route run and total yards in the slot.
“It was an opportunity for me to showcase what I can do,” Kearse said about his first season with the Jets. “I felt like I just dipped my toe in the water. Now I’m ready to fully jump in and show everybody the type of player that I am, because I’m getting those opportunities. The people out here saw me in Seattle, but they haven’t really seen me yet. So, I’m looking forward to reminding them.”
Kearse, a Super Bowl champion with plenty of big-game experience, was a positive locker room presence. His winning pedigree and willingness to help younger players was an important part of organization’s culture change last season.
Kearse, however, is aware of the financial component that might affect his immediate future, he but doesn’t lay awake at night worrying about it. His $5.55 million cap charge is more than Anderson, Enunwa, Hansen and ArDarius Stewart combined. The Jets would save that much (and incur no dead money) by cutting him before the regular season, according to overthecap.com.
“What do we need to save money for?” Kearse said matter-of-factly. “We got plenty of money.”
It’s true that the Jets aren’t exactly hurting for salary cap space. Besides, five million bucks for Kearse would be money well spent given the important elements that he provides for this team.
This isn’t Kearse’s first rodeo though. He’s fully aware that he’ll have to prove that he belongs again.
If you want to take his spot, go for it. It won’t be easy.