Posts tagged JevonKearse at FanHouse

As we get ready for the week two matchup of the Titans and Bengals, Jimmy Morris from SB Nation's Tennessee Titans blog Music CIty Miracles was kind enough to offer some insights on Nashville's finest for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

It's been an offseason of change for Jevon Kearse. The Eagles released the defensive end after his production slipped in each of his four years in Philadelphia, and he eventually re-signed with the team that drafted him, the Tennessee Titans.

And then, two weeks ago, Kearse was arrested for DUI. Great start to 2008.

Good news for Titans fans, though: Kearse told Hashmarks' Paul Kuharsky that the Eagles and their fans will be shocked at how well he plays this season. If Kearse puts up numbers like he did before Philly signed him, I'm guessing the organization and the fans will be more upset for getting swindled than shocked for his ability to rush the passer.

"They'll say, 'Why the hell did we let that dude go?' " Kearse said. " 'What were they thinking?' "But everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was a good reason: So I can get [hissed] off and get more motivated." *

Yes, we could all stand to get a little more "hissed" off. By the way, the answer to the question, "why the hell did we let that dude go?" will be some form of, "his production has fallen off a cliff in recent years and he couldn't get to the quarterback with a just tight end blocking him."

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
Only team that rivals watching paint dry in the boredom department. The Titans likely hate fantasy football. They definitely hate the pass. Their 543 rushing attempts last year led the NFL, even though they averaged a subpar 3.9 yards per carry. Only four teams threw the ball less often, and they were the only team in the entire league that threw less than 10 TD passes. I'm bored just thinking about this offense as I type. So they did the only rational thing to do in the off-season ... shore up the run game while nearly ignoring the passing situation. Yeah, they added tight end Alge Crumpler -- a 30 year-old TE who endured a rough 2007 in easily the worst season of his career. Still, the team virtually ignored wideouts in the off-season, fully content on letting Justin Gage and Roydell Williams being the top two with an absymal supporting cast. Instead, they used their first round pick on speedster RB Chris Johnson. Do you really believe them when they say they wanna pass more?

Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence, News Channel 5 in Nashville is reporting.

Police said Kearse was speeding and swerving in his car, and that the officer who pulled him over said Kearse had slurred speech, red eyes and the odor of alcohol. He claimed that all he had to drink was a vodka and Red Bull, but he refused a breath test.

Kearse re-signed in March with Tennessee, where he was the NFL's defensive rookie of the year in 1999, after playing the last five seasons with the Eagles. He has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness in recent seasons and is expected to be a situational pass rusher this season.

The Freak is back.

Jevon Kearse, the defensive end who was one of the best pass rushers in the league with the Titans at the start of his career is now back, well past his prime. NFL Network, Pro Football Talk and the Tennesseean are all reporting that the Titans and Kearse have reached a contract agreement.

Kearse was once one of the highest-paid defensive players in the league, but he has gotten older and less effective, and he wasn't particularly sought after this off-season. His deal with the Titans is a two-year, $6 million contract with a $1.3 million signing bonus.

Kearse had 36 sacks in his first three NFL seasons but has had just 33.5 in the six seasons since then. He'll turn 32 before the 2008 season starts, and his best days are behind him, but as a situational pass rusher, he's not a bad addition for a Titans team whose own players are beginning to complain about the lack of moves in free agency.

A month ago, Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse was benched, and he'll probably be released in the coming weeks. The former Pro Bowler never lived up to expectations in Philadelphia after several monster seasons with Tennessee during the first half of his career.

As Michael David Smith wrote on November 16, Kearse had 35 sacks in his first three NFL seasons, and has managed 34.5 sacks in the six years since. And now with Juqua Thomas getting most of the playing time -- and making substantially less than Kearse ($1 million to $6.5 million for 2008) -- it's pretty clear how this is going to end:

"I've seen [the big picture], but I don't let it get to me," Kearse said. "I just want to take something positive from this season and that is to get healthy. I want to use this time that I haven't been playing or practicing and let my knee get right and see what the future holds."

Kearse seems like a good guy who's been slowed by one injury or another. If he can prove he's healthy, he'll certainly get a shot with another NFL team, probably something similar to what the Broncos and Colts offered Simeon Rice.

Hopefully Kearse's story has a happier ending than getting cut twice before heading home to wait for the phone to ring, although I suspect Eagles' fans would've settled for just a little more productivity during his four years in Philly.

It was like Christmas in March for Eagles fans back in 2004. Probably the two biggest names available on the market became Eagles. Before the whole Terrell Owens controversy with the Ravens and special master Stephen Burbank, the Eagles signed one of the best defensive players available to a monster contract. Jevon Kearse received an eight year, $66 million dollar deal.

He never lived up to it.

Remember how awesome Jevon Kearse was in his first three years in the league, back when he played for the Titans? Yeah, that player is never coming back.

Kearse had 35 sacks in his first three NFL seasons, and he has 34.5 sacks in his last six NFL seasons. He's been plagued by injuries, including a knee injury that ended his season after two games last year and is still bothering him this year, and he's 31 years old. Physical specimens like Kearse just don't last into their 30s.

And now Kearse has been benched. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson confirmed yesterday that Juqua Thomas is now the starter at left end, and he hinted that Kearse might not be active for Sunday's game. Kearse has had his knee drained twice this season, and when asked about it yesterday, Kearse said he could see a silver lining in losing his spot on the defense: "If I'm not playing as much, I guess I won't have to get it drained."


It's kind of sad, but we have to adjust our expectations of what kind of player Kearse can be. He might play a few more years, but he's never going to come close to leading the league in sacks again. He'll be a situational pass rusher for the rest of his career, and if he's doing it with the Eagles, an overpaid situational pass rusher.

I think it's safe to say that Jevon Kearse's play on the field has never matched the expectations put on him when he signed an 8 year, $66 million dollar deal in 2004 with the Philadelphia Eagles. Jevon was off to a great start in 2006 before going down with a season ending injury. How will he bounce back? Many are reporting that Jevon Kearse is extremely underweight. Some say he has lost as much as 30 pounds this off season and looks more like a wide receiver than a dominant defensive end.

Gary Cobb, former Eagle and now radio and web personality, even went as far as to call out Kearse on his website for being focused more on partying than playing football this off season.

I hear Jevon Kearse has a huge, new, beautiful yacht down in Florida, which he is spending a lot of time on, these days. Jevon is on the yacht when he's not throwing parties in his "knockout monster of a house". Kearse from what I hear has been quite the party guy, this off season. I hear a lot of things about what the guys are doing on their own time and I don't write or talk about it, because I think they deserve some privacy. But when it affects their play, I make it public.

Right now Jevon is living like he's not playing football any more.

Those are some strong words. They're not coming from some blogger in his basement either, they're from a former Eagle who has a lot of access to the players. Cobb says it's imperative that Kearse hit the weight room before training camp. If he doesn't, it could be a bleak season, "Mark my words, if Jevon doesn't get in a football mentality quickly, he'll come back here and get hurt. Then he'll sit around for the season and collect a check. It may already be too late at this point."

It sounds like Kearse should stop hanging out in rap videos and focus more on those bench presses.