All ‘grown up,’ Jayron Kearse finds new role with Dallas Cowboys as he faces old team
It would be understandable if Dallas Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse went into Sunday’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings with his chest stuck out and gung ho about letting his former team know what they were missing.
Kearse, who registered just five starts in four seasons with the Vikings as primarily a special teams performer, is heading back to Minnesota (3-3) playing the best football of his career as a starter on an improving Cowboys defense.
Kearse is second on the Cowboys (5-1) with 35 tackles and has played a key role in shutting down opposing tight ends in the team’s “Big Nickel” unit that features three safeties and has him playing close to the line of scrimmage.
But when asked if he was excited about playing the team that drafted him out of Clemons in 2016 and later let him go, he said no and called it just another game.
“It’s part of the business,” said Kearse, who recorded seven starts with the Detroit Lions last year. “I am not the first guy this has happened to and I won’t be the last. This is part of the business. ... Another team on the schedule. I’m going to put my best foot forward and try to win the game.
“I am focused on playing good football, not anything else.”
It’s called growth.
Kearse’s newfound focus and maturity are the primary reasons he has excelled with the Cowboys in his sixth season.
There were also part of the reasons he didn’t get the same opportunities in his previous stops.
“I think I have [grown up],” he said. “My younger career, I didn’t handle a lot of things the way I should have. With the experience and getting older, I understand things a lot more.”
His final season with the Vikings in 2019 included a DWI arrest. He was subsequently suspended for the first three games of the 2020 season with the Lions by the NFL for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
His career in Detroit was derailed when he was waived 11 games into the season because he violated team rules by leaving the hotel without permission before a road game and was late to bed check, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Cowboys senior defensive assistant George Edwards, who was the Vikings’ defensive coordinator when they drafted Kearse, said his growth and maturity have made all the difference in his play.
“Yeah, he’s grown up a lot. I’d say from my time in Minnesota, you could just see the maturity level, his concentration, his focus on his task and having a voice in the room,” Edwards said. “Being able to communicate on the field, he’s really grown a lot and it’s showing in his play. It’s good to see that he’s matured and grown as much as he has and making good decisions on the field and off the field.
“You love to see that in a player, especially when you see him grow up as a youngster and see him develop into the player that he’s become now.”
Ironically, that growth and understanding by Kearse also includes an epiphany about the position he is playing in the “Big Nickel”.
His coaches at Clemson tried to get him to play a similar role in college but he resisted the move, thinking they were trying to turn him into a linebacker and he insisted on being a safety.
“It’s ironic because it’s the same thing I do now,” Kearse said. “At the time, I was young and was like, ‘You’re trying to make me a linebacker. I’d rather just stay back.’ I was stern in my ways, I wanted to be a safety. But it’s crazy because I do the exact same things now.”
Now, Kearse believes it could be the thing that extends his career, while also serving as a prototype for other players coming out of college with his size and skill set.
“I think it is. Just being a unique guy,” he said. “Not many 6-foot-4 safeties. 6-4, 220 [pounds] who can cover and play in the box. It gives you the best of both worlds. That is going to continue to grow. At this point, it’s going to be a lot more guys that look like me that will be used for that purpose.”
Cowboys roster moves
The Cowboys placed defensive lineman Brent Urban (triceps) and cornerback Maurice Canady (concussion) on injured reserve, which means they will miss at least the next three games.
Second-round cornerback Kelvin Joseph, who has missed the first six games on injured reserve, will likely replace Canady on the active roster.
The Cowboys also expect tackle La’el Collins and receiver Michael Gallup back at practice on Wednesday. Collins was under an NFL suspension for the past five games.
Gallup has been out since the season opener with a calf strain.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
