Jermaine Kearse has been one of the most surprising players in the first two weeks. I thought the Seahawks would just cut him; he’s been that bad for them. But the Jets wanted him in a trade, and he’s turned out to be better than I ever would have expected.
They’re using him more, mostly.
Kearse opened the season with a 7-catch game at Buffalo, and he followed that up with 4 catches and 2 TDs at Oakland. In the last four years at Seattle, Kearse had back-to-back games with 4-plus catches only once.
Kearse also caught only 11 touchdowns in the last four years in Seattle. That’s 11 TDs in 62 games, with just one game with 2 TDs. He’s already done that in the Jets. They have a bunch of other wide receivers, but they seem to like him more than those guys.
Not that Kearse will lead fantasy teams to fantasy championships, but he makes sense as a depth pickup, particularly in PPR formats.
New York’s other starting wide receiver, Robby Anderson, has more deep-strike ability – more potential to hit on a 50-yard touchdown – but Kearse is a veteran who has a better overall understanding of the game and the league in general right now.
Here, per the stat counters at Pro Football Reference (an outstanding site) are Kearse’s game-by-game numbers since 2013.
| JERMAINE KEARSE, GAME BY GAME | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2013 | at CAR | W 12-7 | 2 | 2 | 49 | 24.5 | 1 |
| 2013 | SFO | W 29-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2013 | JAX | W 45-17 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | at HOU | W 23-20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2013 | at IND | L 28-34 | 1 | 1 | 28 | 28.0 | 1 |
| 2013 | TEN | W 20-13 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 0 |
| 2013 | at ARI | W 34-22 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | at STL | W 14-9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2013 | TAM | W 27-24 | 2 | 2 | 43 | 21.5 | 1 |
| 2013 | at ATL | W 33-10 | 4 | 3 | 75 | 25.0 | 1 |
| 2013 | MIN | W 41-20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2013 | NOR | W 34-7 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | at SFO | L 17-19 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 |
| 2013 | at NYG | W 23-0 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 10.5 | 0 |
| 2013 | ARI | L 10-17 | 7 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | GNB | W 36-16 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at SDG | L 21-30 | 5 | 4 | 61 | 15.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | DEN | W 26-20 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at WAS | W 27-17 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 1 |
| 2014 | DAL | L 23-30 | 7 | 3 | 62 | 20.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | at STL | L 26-28 | 7 | 3 | 50 | 16.7 | 0 |
| 2014 | at CAR | W 13-9 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 7.5 | 0 |
| 2014 | OAK | W 30-24 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | NYG | W 38-17 | 4 | 3 | 70 | 23.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | at KAN | L 20-24 | 9 | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 0 |
| 2014 | ARI | W 19-3 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | at SFO | W 19-3 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | at PHI | W 24-14 | 7 | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | SFO | W 17-7 | 6 | 5 | 78 | 15.6 | 0 |
| 2014 | at ARI | W 35-6 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 |
| 2015 | at STL | L 31-34 | 10 | 8 | 76 | 9.5 | 0 |
| 2015 | at GNB | L 17-27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2015 | CHI | W 26-0 | 6 | 6 | 76 | 12.7 | 0 |
| 2015 | DET | W 13-10 | 2 | 2 | 84 | 42.0 | 0 |
| 2015 | at CIN | L 24-27 | 3 | 2 | 38 | 19.0 | 1 |
| 2015 | CAR | L 23-27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2015 | at SFO | W 20-3 | 4 | 3 | 64 | 21.3 | 0 |
| 2015 | at DAL | W 13-12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2015 | ARI | L 32-39 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 0 |
| 2015 | SFO | W 29-13 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 |
| 2015 | PIT | W 39-30 | 5 | 4 | 47 | 11.8 | 2 |
| 2015 | at MIN | W 38-7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2015 | at BAL | W 35-6 | 8 | 7 | 74 | 10.6 | 0 |
| 2015 | CLE | W 30-13 | 8 | 7 | 110 | 15.7 | 0 |
| 2015 | STL | L 17-23 | 5 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 1 |
| 2015 | at ARI | W 36-6 | 3 | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 1 |
| 2016 | MIA | W 12-10 | 7 | 5 | 57 | 11.4 | 0 |
| 2016 | at LAR | L 3-9 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2016 | SFO | W 37-18 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 |
| 2016 | at NYJ | W 27-17 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 7.7 | 0 |
| 2016 | ATL | W 26-24 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 11.7 | 0 |
| 2016 | at ARI | T 6-6 | 4 | 3 | 51 | 17.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | at NOR | L 20-25 | 7 | 4 | 57 | 14.3 | 0 |
| 2016 | BUF | W 31-25 | 4 | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | at NWE | W 31-24 | 7 | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | PHI | W 26-15 | 6 | 2 | 29 | 14.5 | 0 |
| 2016 | at TAM | L 5-14 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | CAR | W 40-7 | 9 | 5 | 68 | 13.6 | 0 |
| 2016 | at GNB | L 10-38 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 0 |
| 2016 | LAR | W 24-3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 |
| 2016 | ARI | L 31-34 | 9 | 4 | 37 | 9.3 | 1 |
| 2016 | at SFO | W 25-23 | 7 | 2 | 44 | 22.0 | 0 |
| 2017 | at BUF | L 12-21 | 9 | 7 | 59 | 8.4 | 0 |
| 2017 | at OAK | L 20-45 | 5 | 4 | 64 | 16.0 | 2 |
—Ian Allan