Former Seahawks WR Jermaine Kearse retires ‘very content’ with his career

From Lakes High School to the University of Washington to the Seattle Seahawks, Jermaine Kearse has long been a local fan favorite. This week, the wide receiver announced his retirement from the NFL.

In his first interview post-retirement, Kearse told KIRO Radio’s Gee & Ursula Show that he’s been spending a lot more time with family, and is looking forward to that continuing now that he’s stepped away from football.

“I recently just had a baby — this is our second one,” he said. “So, I mean, I’ve been pretty busy and occupied with that. But, man, mostly just been hanging out with my family, just relaxing and being able to enjoy this time off.”

“I’ve been out there on the golf course a lot, especially while the weather is good out here in Washington,” he added. “Just been excited, just very content, and just happy with the way my career went, and was very content to kind of just leave on my own terms.”

Last August, as a Detroit Lion, Kearse broke his leg early in the first quarter in Week 1 of the preseason. He was then placed on injured reserve.

Now a year later, rather than pushing forward through rehab to get back to the game, Kearse says he decided leaving on his own terms was the best decision for himself and for his family.

“I thought it was time to hang them up and and just move on to the next thing in life,”  he said.

To leave the game that he’s lived and breathed for so long is difficult, he admitted, but he feels satisfied with the level he was able to reach in his career.

“It’s a little bitter and sweet,” Kearse said. “As far as difficult, like you said, it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life pretty much and just being able to be fortunate enough to be successful in that and reach the level that I was able to reach, it’s always tough to leave that behind and move forward. But I’m excited for just kind of what’s next.”

“I’m only 30 years old, so I got a lot of life in me, hopefully,” Kearse added. “And just continue to just, you know, explore my passions and try to go into that direction.”

He spoke about his time playing for the Seattle Seahawks, calling it probably the “most fun” he had playing football.

“I met a lot of great guys, a lot of great teammates throughout the years. A lot of the guys that were older who took me under their wing, like Sidney Rice, Tarvaris Jackson, rest in peace. Even defensive guys — Brandon Mebane, Red Bryant — just a lot of those guys kind of took me under their wing and were able to show me the ropes. And, you know, as I got older, you kind of learn from them and try to pass it down.”

Kearse and Doug Baldwin are also very close, and still talk to each other and hang out often.

“You can’t be really mad when you’re bringing home a Super Bowl in one of those years,” Kearse said. “So I thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Seattle. There’s nothing like playing in front of the 12s. I know, unfortunately, the Hawks can’t play in front of them yet this year. But it was so much fun, the energy that they brought and the support that they continuously showed throughout my whole career, I’m very grateful for that.”

His favorite moment as a Husky was beating Pete Carroll, who was the head coach at USC in 2009 when the Trojans came to Seattle.

“We just had gone 0-12 the previous year and a super long and rough year for my freshman year,” Kearse recalled. “That following year, just the fight that our team had to be able to, you know, pull up a major upset in front of the nation, especially after just having a terrible season before and just being able to battle through, and then eventually go to a bowl game for the first time in a long time.”

“I’m honestly just more proud of the fact that we, when I came in at UW, we were at the very bottom, and I was able to be a part of the process to start kind of turning it around,” he added.

Going 0-12 was tough, but Kearse says it taught him a lot about himself competitively.

“When things aren’t going really well, it’s just kind of easy to give up and kind of just go down the dumps,” he said. “And I just never felt that way.”

He has the mindset to turn the ship around and get going in the right direction.

“There’s just no quit,” Kearse said. “… Pete talks about grit a lot, and I felt like I kind of got my grit. Obviously, growing up and continuing to try to — when you face adversity and overcoming it, but especially those years, it really taught me a lot about myself competitively.”

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Outside of football, Kearse is a family man and says his wife is the foundation of their family.

“We always talk about she’s the glue,” he said. “She definitely keeps our whole family organized and just
on track. And, you know, without her, it would be a really difficult thing for me to go through.”

Kearse met his wife in junior year of college and says she’s had his back since the beginning.

“When we’re playing, we’re spending the majority of our time at the facility,” he said. “And so we don’t really see behind the scenes of the hard work that she put in, and most NFL wives put in. … So when I come home, I just try to be as supportive and helpful as I can. And now that I have more time, I could be more active in that.”

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.