New York Jets: Player evaluations at wide receiver
Jermaine Kearse
FINAL STATS: 65 RECEPTIONS, 810 YARDS, FIVE TOUCHDOWNS
Here is a guy that nobody expected anything from, mainly because he wasn’t on the team during training camp. The Jets were moving forward with Quincy Enunwa at the top of the depth chart until he was injured during the Green and White scrimmage. The Jets were left with no experience on the wide receiver depth chart and the end of training camp. Sheldon Richardson was traded to Seattle for Jermaine Kearse and off the Jets went.
In the early part of the season, Kearse was the most reliable receiver on the team, posting multiple catches in each of the first six games. As Anderson stepped up Kearse took more of a secondary role, though he still posted two 100 yard performances after the bye week. No matter who was on the field with him, Kearse was the veteran influence that the Jets young wide receivers needed to get off the ground.
Kearse did have the most drops, but that only amounts to a whopping four. Out of 102 targets that is a drop percentage of 3.9%. If that is the worst that the team presented in 2017, they clearly have a good core group to move ahead with. In a bad year, we have to try and take some positives away. One is that the Jets wide receiver room is better than anyone thought it was. That’s a good thing, folks.