Kerley hopes to back up Tomlinson's words
Before Jeremy Kerley even took his first pro snap, LaDainian Tomlinson was gushing about the skills of the Jets' fifth-round pick, talking him up like a proud father.
No one, Tomlinson mentioned barely a week into training camp, was going to be able to lock down the rookie wide receiver with single coverage if he lined up in the slot. Not the way he saw it. The Jets running back, who played at TCU just as Kerley did, first laid eyes on the 22-year-old at spring practice during his sophomore season, and feels Kerley could blossom into someone “special,” words that get a rise out of the laid back 5-9, 188-pounder.
"Man, I obviously want to back it up," said Kerley, 22. "For him to say that, for him to think that high of me, it makes me want to just go out and prep myself to be one of the best receivers that I can be."
Kerley, 5-9 and 188 pounds, starts punching the clock as the full-time slot receiver Monday night when the Jets host the Dolphins. After mostly serving as the primary punt returner before last Sunday's loss to the Patriots, he has been thrust into a larger role since the trade of Derrick Mason.
"Definitely, definitely, exciting for me," Kerley said. "But that's not how I'll approach it. I'll approach it like one guy just went down and I'm filling his spot."
The Jets hammered home the point that Mason's departure -- which came just weeks after the veteran wideout made critical comments about the Jets' offensive woes -- had a lot to do with Kerley's emergence in practice. With Mason's time dramatically cut in favor of Kerley a week ago, the rookie was targeted three times by Mark Sanchez, reeling in all three for 35 yards and scoring his first NFL touchdown.
He's done nothing to diminish Tomlinson's perceptions of him, and the future Hall of Fame running back already has a couple of guys in mind whom he believes Kerley can emulate in his own special way.
"I honestly think he can be a Wes Welker, a Wayne Chrebet, who played here a number of years," Tomlinson said. "I really think he can be that type of guy -- quickness, can catch and he's tough.
"There is something inside a guy sometimes that allows you to make those type of plays when your team needs you, and I think Kerley has that something that you have to have."
Last Sunday, Kerley caught a 9-yard strike in the third quarter for a touchdown, helping bring the Jets within 17-14. Rather than a celebratory dance, he simply placed the ball on the ground and then picked it back up again as a keepsake after getting congratulations from some teammates.
"Really, I was trying to think of a dance to do," Kerley said. "I had nothing, nothing on the brain."
Next time may be different.
"I've got a little something, man," he said. "I'll lace ya'll up, probably do a little something. I'll let it be seen next time."
Could it come on special teams? Kerley is averaging 11.4 yards per punt return attempt since taking one off the face mask in the season opener. "An inauspicious debut," special- teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said. But with more time on offense, Kerley could see less time as a punt returner, possibly giving way to Joe McKnight at times.
"I look at it like a pitcher," Westhoff said. "I want the guy who's hot. Joe is hot right now."
But Kerley isn't ready to yield any punt-returning duties. "I feel like I could still do a lot more," he said. "I can still give this team a lot more on punt returns."
At TCU, Kerley was utilized as a playmaker on offense, or as he put it, "I was more of the do-it-all-run-around guy." He never really had to read defenses much, and admitted he initially struggled with recognizing pro coverages. It's something he's working to improve, doing so on the same team with the guy who watched him during that visit to the Horned Frogs' campus.
"It is kind of ironic because you never think you are going to get a chance to play with a fellow alumni," Tomlinson said. "But it has worked out like that and it's been fun."
