Seattle Seahawks' Jermaine Kearse Will Likely Have To Go

Jermaine Kearse will enter his first offseason as a free agent since the start of his professional career in 2012. Kearse was a local talent who grew up in the Seattle area in Lakewood, Washington, and continued on to play football at the University of Washington. The Seattle Seahawks brought in Kearse as an undrafted rookie prior to the 2012 season.

In his first season with the Seahawks, he only started in one game and recorded a total of three catches for 31 yards. After that point, Kearse saw his role increase and was a major part of the Seattle receiving corps. This season was Kearse’s best so far, with him registering 49 catches for 685 yards and five touchdowns — all career highs. Kearse has also played major roles in Seattle’s run of success over recent years, one of the biggest plays being his touchdown catch in last year’s NFC championship game which sent Seattle back to the Super Bowl.

Kearse has stated that he would like to return to play for the Seahawks next season, but also made a statement that he will not be giving a “hometown discount” to the Seahawks either. The 2016 free agent class is not very heavy with wide receiver talent, and Kearse may be a guy that many teams looks to bring in. Many project him to get a deal worth roughly $4.5 million, and this is a number that Seattle will likely not be able to give him.

At this point, Seattle has 17 unrestricted free agents that they will have to deal with. This includes two starting offensive lineman who will likely be seeking bigger contracts than Seattle is willing offer in Russell Okung and J.R. Sweezy. Offensive line play was a major concern that Seattle had to deal with for much of this season, and with the possibility of losing two key guys, the role is looking like a major question mark again. They will have to look to get reasonable deals with Okung and/or Sweezy done, or they will have to bring in some more talent from the free agent pool. That will have to be one of their first priorities in the offseason.

They also have two cornerbacks who are free agents. Jeremy Lane came back for the final push of the season and played very will in the Seattle secondary. He will enter this offseason as an unrestricted free agent, and is a guy that Seattle should look to hang on to. Deshawn Shead will also be a free agent, but Seattle has exclusive rights to him and will be able to bring him back if they choose. As good as the Seattle defensive secondary can be, depth was a big issue for much of the season, and they may have to shell out some money to make sure Lane stays around.

Additionally, Seattle’s two starting defensive tackles, Brandon Mebane and Ahtyba Rubin will be unrestricted free agents. Both were major pieces in the Seattle defensive front and played major roles in their ability to stifle opponents’ rushing attacks. Both would be hard to replace, and odds are that they will be asking for a good amount of money.

Unfortunately for Kearse, he may not even be the biggest priority for Seattle at his own position group. Doug Baldwin put together a career year, and found himself being mentioned with some of the best receivers in football. He only has one year left on his deal, and Seattle has shown that they like to get extensions done at that point. The offense also got a big boost from rookie Tyler Lockett who has shown his explosive ability, and will likely see the return of Jimmy Graham who even as a tight end is a major receiving threat. This makes Kearse the expendable piece.

This does not even include contract negotiations that Seattle will likely have to face with Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett.