By Lisa Zimmerman, Player Engagement Insider
On September 2, 2017 at 6:00 a.m., wide receiver Jermaine Kearse stepped off the red-eye from Seattle and headed directly to the New York Jets facility in Florham, Park, New Jersey. He stayed there for the better part of the next two days. After five years with the Seahawks, Kearse had been traded to the Jets just nine days before their season opener on September 10th in Buffalo.
Kearse was signed to be a starter, to help shore up the team’s weak receiving corps. He knew the expectations – and that there was no time to waste.
“I knew it was a quick turnaround, and that I was playing,” he said.
After spending his entire NFL career up to that point with the Seahawks, Kearse had a very limited amount of time to absorb the change and learn the Jets’ offensive scheme. Kearse knew he had to prioritize. Fortunately, he had already run many of the concepts (individual plays which can be run in a variety of different ways) and formations used by the Jets during both his years at the University of Washington and with the Seahawks. What he needed to focus on was the terminology and the details of certain plays.
“I started with formations,” he said. “That’s the first thing to start with. You have to know where to line up. Then it goes further into little details. Am I lining up plus-two from the numbers? Am I lining up on the numbers? A lot of teams run the same type of concepts. Early in my career, I taught myself concepts because I wanted to play.”
Kearse immediately sat down with Jets wide receivers coach Karl Dorrell and the two went through those formations and worked on the other details to get Kearse up to speed as quickly as possible. Eventually Kearse headed back to the hotel (he had not yet had any time to find a place to live) where there was no time to relax – he continued to study.
During the week that followed, he worked closely with his teammates, including quarterback Josh McCown, on timing and chemistry, both critical elements in ensuring that each game plan is executed as cleanly and consistently as possible.
Originally an undrafted rookie free agent with Seattle in 2012, Kearse already had a foundation for how he studied and prepared. From the beginning, he was committed to getting on the field, and knew the way to make himself valuable was to be able to play multiple roles; So, he set about learning every possible role he might be asked to play.
“I knew that if I wanted to get on the field I would have to learn every position,” he said. “Being undrafted, the more you can do the better. I knew if I learned every position, then if someone went down I could play, and my coaches would be confident that I could play. It’s something I took pride in.”
And that system he had built for himself, gave him an outline for a smooth transition to the Jets. Everything he did worked. Through the first Five weeks of the 2017 season, with just those eight days to prepare, Kearse has already established himself as the team’s leading receiver, with 22 receptions for 220 yards and three touchdowns.
Never underestimate what can be achieved with a solid commitment to focus and preparation.
Lisa Zimmerman is a long-time NFL writer and reporter. She was the Jets correspondent for CBSSports.com, SportsNet New York’s TheJetsBlog.com and Sirius NFL Radio. She has also written for NFL.com.