NFL: 10 receivers who took it to the house most often
By Miles Wray
8. Jermaine Kearse, WR, Seattle Seahawks
22 catches, 346 yards, 15.7 YPC, 4 TDs – 18.1% TD Rate
A second-year undrafted player out of nearby University of Washington, Kearse filled in admirably as the Super Bowl Champions’ third-string receiver once Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin were lost to injury. Kearse’s blistering straight-line speed allows him to get by cornerbacks for big plays. With most of the passes thrown to Kearse being thrown way downfield, he doesn’t catch an elite percentage of the balls that are thrown his way — but when he does, the results are fantastic. Kearse followed up his breakout regular season with two touchdowns on seven playoff catches.
While last year’s leading pass-catcher on the Seahawks, Golden Tate, is gone, both Harvin and Rice are back, and Seattle also invested two draft picks at wide receiver (second-rounder Paul Richardson and fourth-rounder Kevin Norwood). Although Kearse provides valuable contributions on both kicking and returning units on the Seahawks’ special teams, he faces a steep climb to reproduce this level of offensive results.