Armchair Quarterback: Will Kearse ever be 100 percent?
Make no mistake, when healthy Jevon Kearse can be one of the most dominating linemen in the NFL.
Add his potential to the resurgent career of Kevin Carter, who rebounded nicely last season after a horrid first season with the Titans, and you’ve got what should be the toughest one-two combination in all of football. Healthy and ticking on all cylinders, these two should have quarterbacks around the league paying up their insurance premiums before they come to Nashville.
However, as we begin the third season with the Kearse and Carter connection, we still haven’t seen the potential we thought this gridiron merger would have. As I said, the first year saw Carter stink up the place. The second season saw Kearse go down with a foot injury during the first defensive series of the year. Now, as we enter year three, with expectations high, Kearse starts the season with yet another injury.
This time it is a sprained ankle which he suffered in practice Tuesday. As a precautionary measure, Kearse has been placed in a walking boot until the swelling recedes. Doctors who conducted on MRI on the ankle, feel it is not as bad as the ankle sprain he suffered in 2001 which slowed him considerably.
While he is expected to return in time for the season opener with the Raiders on Sept. 7 in Nashville, the injury means he will likely miss the remainder of pre-season action. Had this happened to a player who had played pretty regular for the past year, it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, Kearse missed pretty much the whole season last year so pre-season action would have been very beneficial for him.
Now I’m trying not to jump to any conclusions here, but these nagging injuries are starting to make me wonder about his durability. Whether the Titans are publicly saying it or not, they also have their concerns as evidenced by their reluctance to finalize a contract extension.
Kearse’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has been pushing for the deal prior to the kickoff of the season; however, the Titans are delaying the deal, reportedly to see if Kearse can return to form this season. While the latest ankle sprain supposedly won’t impact the negotiations, I’m sure the flare up has the Titans a bit worried.
Sure, on the upside, Kearse is dominant and he’s the kind of guy you want representing your team in the community. He’s also a leader in the locker room. However, on the downside, the Titans don’t want to invest millions toward their already maxed-out salary cap to a guy who’s going to be riding the pine all the time with a bad wheel. This is why they are in a holding pattern on his contract.
We’ve seen it happen quite a lot in the NFL — a blue chip player, full of potential, who never gets to live up to expectations due to repeated injuries. The perfect example of this is Jacksonville’s Fred Taylor, one of the best backs in the game, who gets hurt every season one way or another. Ask any fantasy leaguer and they’ll tell you to leave Taylor alone because he’s always hurt. If it isn’t an ankle, then it’s a groin. You name it, Taylor has hurt it.
And let’s not forget, closer to home Yancy Thigpen seemed to be injured every time he turned around.
I heard some of his relatives even claim, in the parking lot outside one game I attended, that Yancy was hurt all the time because all the years he had to catch bad balls from Kordell Stewart in Pittsburgh. Yeah, right.
I think Kearse understands the situation concerning the contract and he has publicly said he looks forward to proving himself again and I hope he is able to do so this season.
I don’t foresee this becoming a Duce Staley deal like the one going on in Philadelphia, where bridges are being burned.