Kearse has been a standout at Vikings' practice |
Very early returns are in and former Clemson safety Jayron Kearse has been a standout at the first week of Vikings' training camp.
Kearse was drafted #244 overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft and vowed that he would make the other NFL teams regret passing on him. So far, he is a man of his word. "I'm really happy to be here," Kearse said via the Free Press. "The Vikings gave me an opportunity, and I want to take advantage of it. I'm ready to go." Vikings' defensive coordinator George Edwards has seen a different level of play in practice than he saw in Kearse's college tape. "The biggest thing is, he’s going to have to continue to stay low in his backpedal and in his reaction to be able to get in and out of cuts, because he is a little bit taller," Edwards said. "But I’ll tell you what, he has done a nice job of doing that through the camp, which is something we didn’t see a lot of with him first coming out (of college)." It looks as though the Vikings' got a possible hidden gem with Kearse in the seventh round. "We’re excited where he’s at right now and look for him to continue to grow and progress as we go through the rest of the preseason." Kearse was a first-team All-ACC performer with 62 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, one interception and six pass breakups last season at Clemson.
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