I'm pretty stoked about this. I was 90% sure Kearse would be gone.
In terms of football outsider's advanced stats, Kearse rated as being 29.8% more efficient than the average NFL WR last season, 5th best in the NFL. Baldwin and Lockett were even better, but the efficiency dropoff from Baldwin to Lockett to Kearse is a lot smaller than most here would think. If you could keep a poor man's Baldwin or Lockett for $4.5m APY in this insane market, you found yourself a bargain.
Kearse is in sore need of a paradigm shift from the fans. He's not a drop magnet anymore. His catch rate last year was 72%... one of the best rates in the league.
Like Baldwin and Lockett, Kearse benefitted massively from the change to a spread heavy offense. His numbers over the last 7 games, if prorated over a full season, would have been something like 900 yards and 11 TDs on roughly 60 catches.
And that's not getting into Kearse's strong run blocking, his clutch gene, or how he seems to usually be the guy Russell looks for on the scramble drill.
Maybe it's the scheme more than the player, but whatever the reason may be, Kearse elevated his game to a very high level in 2015. This is a bargain signing for Seattle and puts a lot less pressure on guys like Graham and Richardson to stay healthy.
And if they do, then great! Nothing wrong with having 5 deadly weapons in the passing game. You can never have too many weapons.