Vikings Message Board.Com

I agree. It has been a chore to find a partner for Smith.

jackal wrote: I think Harris has the been the most effective partner so far, but Zimmer does not seem to think so.

Maelstrom88 wrote:Love those quotes. I think he might be a steal for us.

jackal wrote:I was wondering a 6'4 guy that played
at a major school and went 6 rounds
undrafted? How good is he?

In the same city where eight years ago Jayron Kearse was arrested on a felony charge of robbery/home invasion, the dream started to become unclear again.

“I believe that’s what has made me who I am today,” Kearse said. “I probably wouldn’t be here if that didn’t happen. It really changed my whole mindset, the way I looked things and the way I carried myself. That was a turning point. Since then, I’ve been motivated to go do great things. Just make my mom proud, make my family proud and also make myself proud. Going on that path, I definitely wouldn’t have been proud of myself. When I got to the end of my life, thinking I could’ve done this, I could’ve done that. I don’t want to be saying shoulda, coulda, woulda. Just put my foot to the pedal and try to go get it. Now I’m in a position to go get it.”

Kearse, a safety from the NCAA-finalist Clemson defense, watched his close friends and teammates get the call. Cornerback Mackensie Alexander, whom with Kearse held film sessions before Tigers games, was taken by the Vikings in the NFL Draft’s second round. Fellow Clemson safety T.J. Green went three picks later to the Colts. The Falcons took De’Vondre Campbell, ex-Gophers linebacker and Kearse’s childhood friend in Ft. Myers, Fla., in the fourth round. Even Buffalo Bills receiver Sammy Watkins, who attended the same high school and college as Kearse, spoke up about his slide.

As picks continued to scroll across the television screen, Kearse’s frustration mounted. He’d left Clemson a year early after saying he received a second-round grade by the NFL Draft Advisory Board. Nearly four months later, on Saturday, April 30th, his phone started to ring with offers should he go undrafted.

jackal wrote:dang, home invasion .. no wonder he slid almost out of the draft ...

jackal wrote:http://www.nbc-2.com/story/10693291/for ... s-arrested

the article lists him at 17 years old. but it says there was like 8-9 of them involved and only one
gun. It sounds like possibly got rapped up with some bad people, and made a dumb choice. I had
one close friend do something very very stupid, but he learned from it and has achieved a lot today.

That would make him 25 years old now. I'm pretty sure the local news got it wrong again!

Jayron Kearse, who played at Clemson, must wonder about a system that doesn’t appreciate his attributes. He is a tall safety at a time when tight ends and receivers are the size of basketball power forwards. He is also the perfect mix of his uncle, Jevon Kearse, who was once one of the NFL’s fiercest pass rushers and his cousin, Phillip Buchanon, a cornerback who could outrun almost anyone and was an effective pass defender. On these facts alone, Kearse should be one of the most intriguing players in this week’s draft.

But NFL teams do not seem to look at Kearse and see solutions to their issues on defense. Instead, they pick him apart. He’s too thin. He’s not ferocious enough. He doesn’t intercept enough passes. He is too tall at 6ft 4in to be a good tackler. Because of these things, he might not be picked until the draft’s last day, maybe not even until the last round. This is what happens in the NFL. Teams are forever talking themselves out of good things.

A few years ago, there was another tall safety in the draft, another player whose attributes were ignored when teams refused to look past their charts that said a safety shouldn’t be one of the tallest men on the field. Fortunately, Seattle coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider saw in Kam Chancellor a player who could use his size as intimidation. They got a steal when they took him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. Just like picking tall cornerbacks Richard Sherman in the fifth round of the 2011 draft and signing Brandon Browner, unwanted by the rest of the NFL in the same year. Without those three, all 6ft 3in or taller, the Legion of Boom never would have existed.