The End Of The Freak

Jevon Kearse's time in Philadelphia has come to an end as he was released by the Eagles today. A disappointment since he was signed going into the 2004 season, Jevon's career has been on a steady decline ever since his phenomenal 1999 rookie season with the Tennessee Titans.

Kearse's 26 sacks in the first two years of his career in Tennessee (26) are only a few more than the entire sack total he accumulated in his 4 years in Philadelphia (22). After inking a hefty $66 million 8 year contract in free agency to come and play in Philadelphia in 2004, there were high expectations for Kearse despite the fact his numbers had declined in recent years.

In 2002 Kearse broke a bone in his left foot and missed 12 games with that injury, the following season when he returned he put up 9.5 sacks, and had a good year but it wasn't enough for the Titans to re-sign him in free agency. So with a big contract to his name, the 2004 season was disappointing at the time because Jevon's 7.5 sacks were under par for what was expected of him.

Things were expected to change for the better the following season, I mean just looking at how phenomenal the beginning of his career was there had to be some kind of increase in productivity, but those hopes were again let down with 7.5 sacks. The real problem came along in 2006 against the New York Giants, playing in an overtime that shouldn't have even occurred to begin with, Kearse severely injured his knee and was placed on Injured Reserve in just week 2 of the season. That was extremely unfortunate because only 2 games into the year, Kearse had racked up 3.5 sacks already, he was off to a great start, but it was cut short.

That brings us to this past year, after a mere 11 tackles and 3.5 sacks in the opening 8 games of the year, Kearse did not start, for the first time in his Philadelphia career, despite being technically healthy, Kearse was not listed as a starter against the Redskins in Week 10. From the following week onwards, Juqua Thomas was given the start as opposed to Jevon Kearse, something that was not predicted to happen at the beginning of the season.

The hope that whoever signs him is going to have is that the Jevon Kearse of old still exists and that though he might not be the phenom he was in 1999, he can at least be productive, which was something not seen in 2006. That terrible knee injury in '05 definitely needs to be taken into account, because just like with Donovan McNabb, the hope is that he will be better this year, after a full year of recovery. The injury was so serious that it takes a long time for the body to heal and than the player to be completely comfortable with it, so after rushing back to try and play last season, for Jevon's sake the hope is that he performs much better this year.

The ideal situation would have been to restructure Kearse's contract as opposed to having to cut him completely but Drew Rosenhaus acknowledged that there was an attempt to do that, but no agreements were reached. That doesn't surprise anyone, I'm sure Kearse still feels he has way more value than the Eagles think he does, but only time will tell who was right in that assessment.

From the Birds standpoint, more stock is not invested in 2nd year player Victor Abiamiri who saw very little playing time in his rookie year. Along with that is the expectation that at least one defensive end will be drafted at some point this April.