WR Jermaine Kearse re-signs with Seahawks 3yrs/13.5m

[kearly]

When you see that Chris Hogan just got a $4M APY and front-loaded deal from the Patriots, I don't see how you can consider Kearse's deal an overpay. The market is out of whack, and Seattle still got pretty decent terms.

I was just going to post this. Chris Hogan has 959 yards and 6 TDs. In his career.

 

[Tical21]

I don't think it was an overpay at all. If you want to sign a decent 2 or 3 receiver, this is how much you should expect to pay. This is a fair market for Kearse. The real question is whether or not it is a market we wanted to shop at, regardless of price, considering any potential dropoff if he vacates his position, and our current cap situation.

I love the guy. His is the only "new" Seahawks jersey I have. He has made like all four of the biggest catches in Seahawks history. He's a local kid, and is forever remembered for his contribution, and that is super cool.

The only piece that causes me any pause whatsoever is that I was super pumped to see Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams duke it out. Remember though that this is a STARTING role. You gotta have good starters.

 

[TwistedHusky]

He earned it.

I know you pay for what a guy will do, not what he did.

But without that 4th down catch in the EZ giving us the lead vs SF, we likely don't go. Remember SF went the year before. And the most iconic moment of Seahawk history, the SB victory does not happen.

For that alone, I wish people would quit ripping him. Yes, he sucked in the GB playoff game and he was a crappy rapper in RRR - but otherwise as a Seahawk he was very valuable to us.

Really glad we kept him.

 

[Basis4day]

He earned it.

I know you pay for what a guy will do, not what he did.

But without that 4th down catch in the EZ giving us the lead vs SF, we likely don't go. Remember SF went the year before. And the most iconic moment of Seahawk history, the SB victory does not happen.

For that alone, I wish people would quit ripping him. Yes, he sucked in the GB playoff game and he was a crappy rapper in RRR - but otherwise as a Seahawk he was very valuable to us.

Really glad we kept him.

It really feels to me than fans take everything wrong that happened in that game and have false memories that Kearse played like that all year.

 

[rideaducati]

Seattle was OBVIOUSLY the highest bidder and they ended up overpaying. Oh well, I guess we're stuck with pedestrian receivers for another season.

 

[Rob12]

The Seahawks signed Jermaine Kearse to a pretty reasonable deal. He’s young, he’s gotten better every year, and he obviously has a great deal of chemistry with our franchise quarterback. He’s made some insanely clutch catches for this team over the past three seasons. His catch rate was one of the highest in the NFL last season. He’s only dropped seven passes over the past two seasons. He’s had some rough games at times, and sometimes seems to disappear, but his increased production in each of his three seasons is cause enough to be content with this deal—for me, at least.

His cap hits for the first two years are modest.

After the Carolina playoff game a couple of months back, I was really hoping that we would find a way to hold on to him.

I’m also genuinely curious—what’s this depth that people speak of when talking about our wide receiver corps? Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are obviously instrumental to our offense moving forward. But after that, we have Jimmy Graham, who is currently trying to recover from a devastating injury and may start the season on the PUP list. Luke Willson is solid at times. Paul Richardson hasn’t played any meaningful football in over a year, and Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams have four career catches for 51 yards between them. Then there is Ricardo Lockette, who strikes fear in no one as a receiver, and is currently recovering from a devastating neck injury.

I don’t call that depth. If one of Baldwin or Lockett went down, our receiving corps is rail thin, and that’s with or without Graham back in the mix.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that resigning Kearse was a no brainer. He’s not a “luxury.” He’s a pretty young receiver who can help this team a lot in the coming seasons, and at a very reasonable cost. I realized after being 100 percent wrong on Chris Mathews that playing receiver in this offense isn't that easy. Kearse is a great blocker, and brings a lot to the offense. I think the trend will continue this season and he'll build on his numbers once again.

Very good signing for the Seahawks.

 

[WilsonMVP]

What a bunch of complainers. All of you get spoiled with great on-field play by some of our players and then think their skill set can be easily replaced. I remember the days of Darrell Jackson and Koren Robinson where they'd drop EVERYTHING. So what, we marginally overpay to keep a guy around whose a local kid, great performer on the field, and has great chemistry with our QB.

We had the best receiving core I've ever seen for the Seattle Seahawks in my lifetime last year, and retaining the 3rd piece of it for what is not really a big chunk of the cap seems like a great deal.

We have a top 5 receiving core for next year, MAINTAINING a team strength, especially when we're deplete at running back and OL seems like a no brainer.

I'd rather work on the OL through the draft and keep our WR core together, which next year could be our best unit on both sides of the field, and having a competitive advantage rather than using it to bring in two okay OL. That money was never going to be used on a star OL man, therefore I think it was a great deal.

The funny thing is our entire WR core right now is only according to OTC is about 14 million. Only contenders that are below that would be the Vikings and Panthers.

 

[WilsonMVP]

He earned it.

I know you pay for what a guy will do, not what he did.

But without that 4th down catch in the EZ giving us the lead vs SF, we likely don't go. Remember SF went the year before. And the most iconic moment of Seahawk history, the SB victory does not happen.

For that alone, I wish people would quit ripping him. Yes, he sucked in the GB playoff game and he was a crappy rapper in RRR - but otherwise as a Seahawk he was very valuable to us.

Really glad we kept him.

It really feels to me than fans take everything wrong that happened in that game and have false memories that Kearse played like that all year.

Wilson sucked in that game too until the end. They both were clutch and mentally tough enough to put it behind them and connected on the game winning TD

 

[EverydayImRusselin]

How did we overpay? Jones and Sanu got 7m or 8m per and Kearse gets 4m?? Good job Schnieder way to kick some major booty.

 

[LudwigsDrummer]

I am good with retaining this contributor to our team.

 

[Ozzy]

Maybe I'm biased because when he does make a mistake it's at the worst possible time. The pick in the end zone was as much his fault as anyone's and the third down drop would of probably sealed the game for Seattle as well. The GB NFCCG was one of the worst I've seen by a WR then he catches the game winner. There is no way he only had 7 drops, I question what they are calling a catchable ball. But on the other hand he's been huge at times. His TD against Denver in the SB might be my favorite TD ever by a Seahawk. The effort was incredible. My point is I get why people are so divided on Kearse, he has been all over the place. I'm starting to be more comfortable with it and I'm guessing the team backloaded it as insurance for Graham/Richardson. I still don't think they view him as a long term solution and others teams apparently don't either. I'm OK with it now.

 

[Exittium]

if its our own guy that has an existing relationship already with our QB i dont mind "overpaying"... I don't think we did. We DO NOT need to blow big money or a lot or give out lucrative deals to still be competitive.

Now would I have liked to see the money go towards Bruce or Bane instead? Sure, but it is what it is. We know we can't keep everyone and I trust that there's a reason PC and JS had the likes of Rubin resigned and not Bane, and Lane resigned and not Bruce as well as not picking up Bruce's 5th yr option. If this year I've learned anything its, if a guy says He'll take a home town discount, kiss him goodbye because he's gone.

In the end these teams that are going "all in" on FA and tossing money around are doing so because they have to or they lose some or do so because they're that desperate. Does it work? Maybe, but its sure as hell isn't guaranteed. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with our Off-season moves thus far and I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store when camp and preseason starts

 

[Hawkfan77]

Seattle was OBVIOUSLY the highest bidder and they ended up overpaying. Oh well, I guess we're stuck with pedestrian receivers for another season.

Trollollolloll

 

[Rob12]

Maybe I'm biased because when he does make a mistake it's at the worst possible time. The pick in the end zone was as much his fault as anyone's and the third down drop would of probably sealed the game for Seattle as well. The GB NFCCG was one of the worst I've seen by a WR then he catches the game winner. There is no way he only had 7 drops, I question what they are calling a catchable ball. But on the other hand he's been huge at times. His TD against Denver in the SB might be my favorite TD ever by a Seahawk. The effort was incredible. My point is I get why people are so divided on Kearse, he has been all over the place. I'm starting to be more comfortable with it and I'm guessing the team backloaded it as insurance for Graham/Richardson. I still don't think they view him as a long term solution and others teams apparently don't either. I'm OK with it now.

Simply disagree. $4.5M (and the cap hits in Year 1 and 2 are no where near that) for a guy that has gotten better each season and has great chemistry with Russell is a bargain. These NFL contracts that we've seen this offseason are insane. And Kearse's cap hits for the next two seasons are extremely team friendly. Look at what Sanu got, and he produced roughly half of what Kearse did in the passing game last season.

Without him:

Baldwin
Lockett
Richardson (huge injury risk)
Smith (unproven)
Williams (unproven)
Draft pick(s)

That's a rail thin group as far as depth goes. And Graham possibly starting on PUP? That's asking a lot of our franchise, $20M QB. When you factor in that the Beast is a ghost now, it makes sense.

I honestly don't get too excited about Kearse. But I do think he's a guy that can and will elevate No. 3's game, and that's enough for me.

 

[Rob12]

Why fans want to take weapons away from Russ when this offense is clearly moving towards being geared completely around him is beyond me.

Based on the sheer dollars of the contract and the recent FA signings, in a weak WR FA class, I can't see how anyone could honestly be bothered.

I think some need to come to terms with the likely fact that RW is going to be throwing the ball 40 times a game next season. 35, at least.

 

[Rob12]

At the end of the day, cliche and all, I trust what PCJS are doing. I think they're in Russ' ear a lot, and vice versa. If they felt Kearse was a piece that they didn't want to get away, I trust them. They let Irvin, Mebane, and Sweezy walk. They weren't willing to do that with Jermaine. And I trust them on that. That means something to me.

 

[MagnificentSeven]

Why fans want to take weapons away from Russ when this offense is clearly moving towards being geared completely around him is beyond me.

Based on the sheer dollars of the contract and the recent FA signings, in a weak WR FA class, I can't see how anyone could honestly be bothered.

I think some need to come to terms with the likely fact that RW is going to be throwing the ball 40 times a game next season. 35, at least.

I concur. Kearse is back on a very team-friendly deal, which he likely will never see the third year of. There is some real value in having a guy familiar with the offense back to start the year (see Jimmie G at the start of last year). I've been a fan of all the moves so far, including letting Irvin (too much), Mebane (too old), and Sweezy (too 'WTF did they pay him?') go. Loved resigning Rubin, and not concerned at all with depth on the lines...the draft is deep enough in both DT and OL to where some gems will fall to the 3rd-5th rounds.

 

[Seafan]

I think everyone needs to keep it Kearse's contract in perspective. (Expounding on what Mcgruff said above)

Year Cap Hit
2015 (This year) $2,356,000
2016 $2,633,333
2017 $4,033,333
2018 $6,833,334

Those are reasonable numbers. He is an experienced receiver in this system with good rapport with RW and a good run blocker. If Baldwin or Lockett get hurt the team would be thin at experience. He's essentially making the same money for the next two years that he made in 2015. It's a team friendly deal.

 

[massari]

What a bunch of complainers.

I'd rather work on the OL through the draft and keep our WR core together, which next year could be our best unit on both sides of the field, and having a competitive advantage rather than using it to bring in two okay OL. That money was never going to be used on a star OL man, therefore I think it was a great deal.

Maybe you're the one who's going to be complaining when the Seahawks likely have one of the worst OL's again this coming season.

They'd be lucky to get one or two good starting OL's in the draft and as of right now they may need 5. Britt, Lewis, Gilliam all seem like good backups and Glowinski is a ?. It sure would be nice to be able to sign a couple good FA OL (along with a couple early draft picks) / OLB / DL and some (myself included) see the Kearse signing making that a little more difficult.

Baldwin, Lockett, Richardson, Draft Pick, Smith, Williams, Goodley, Foxx, Veteran FA tryouts, UDFA(s) would seem like a good group to enter training camp with.

Looking at the current market, it seems like they did get him at a reasonable price though.

 

[Ozzy]

Maybe I'm biased because when he does make a mistake it's at the worst possible time. The pick in the end zone was as much his fault as anyone's and the third down drop would of probably sealed the game for Seattle as well. The GB NFCCG was one of the worst I've seen by a WR then he catches the game winner. There is no way he only had 7 drops, I question what they are calling a catchable ball. But on the other hand he's been huge at times. His TD against Denver in the SB might be my favorite TD ever by a Seahawk. The effort was incredible. My point is I get why people are so divided on Kearse, he has been all over the place. I'm starting to be more comfortable with it and I'm guessing the team backloaded it as insurance for Graham/Richardson. I still don't think they view him as a long term solution and others teams apparently don't either. I'm OK with it now.

Simply disagree. $4.5M (and the cap hits in Year 1 and 2 are no where near that) for a guy that has gotten better each season and has great chemistry with Russell is a bargain. These NFL contracts that we've seen this offseason are insane. And Kearse's cap hits for the next two seasons are extremely team friendly. Look at what Sanu got, and he produced roughly half of what Kearse did in the passing game last season.

Without him:

Baldwin
Lockett
Richardson (huge injury risk)
Smith (unproven)
Williams (unproven)
Draft pick(s)

That's a rail thin group as far as depth goes. And Graham possibly starting on PUP? That's asking a lot of our franchise, $20M QB. When you factor in that the Beast is a ghost now, it makes sense.

I honestly don't get too excited about Kearse. But I do think he's a guy that can and will elevate No. 3's game, and that's enough for me.

I posted earlier that the numbers make it easier to like. It looks like its set up as insurance for Graham and Richardson being end loaded for an easy release if they feel like it's the best thing to do. I just feel like the money would of been better spent elsewhere. So I don't hate it like I initially did and I still don't love it but it's not a terrible deal and I trust the front office. I'll be rooting as hard as anyone for Kearse.