In his first five seasons in the NFL, Jayron Kearse had a hard time getting on the field. In his first year as a Dallas Cowboy, he rarely came off it.
Now having inked a two-year contract in March after a breakout campaign, the veteran safety looks to take more of a leadership role within the Cowboys locker room. But he also hopes to take his increased opportunities on the field and make himself one of the league’s recognized leaders at a versatile hybrid position that’s becoming more prevalent in today’s game.
Kearse spent his first four seasons with the Vikings after being drafted in the seventh round in 2016. He was always a contributor on special teams, but even his busiest season saw him on the field for under 25% of Minnesota’s defensive snaps in 2019.
In Detroit in 2020, that number jumped to about 45%, when he played 503 defensive snaps for the Lions.
Last year in Dallas, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn had Kearse on the field for 1,014 snaps, over 88% of the defense’s total action and third-highest on the entire unit (just one snap behind Trevon Diggs).
Kearse says he’s the same player he’s always been, even in those other cities. But it took a simple (albeit dramatic) increase in reps to help him showcase the skills that were there all along.
“In my time in Minnesota,” Kearse told reporters last week during the final OTA sessions, “I had the opportunities to play this same position- the big nickel position- but it was seldom that I was getting that opportunity week in and week out. I think the only thing that has changed since I’ve been here is the opportunities have presented itself week in and week out and just given me the ability to be on the field at all times.”
Credit evolving defensive strategies with providing Kearse those extra snaps.
Kearse himself referenced the “big nickel” position, a hybrid role that is seeing more and more use in today’s NFL.
“Think of a normal nickel that’s playing in the slot: covering,” Kearse explained. “You have to do the same things that a normal nickel does. You cover receivers, you cover tight ends. It’s no different.”
Typically seen as being invented by former Packers defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur in the mid-’90s, big nickel takes the nickel concept- using a third corner as a fifth DB- and, instead, puts a third safety on the field. Usually the best safety on the team, the big nickel player takes on traditional linebacker and cornerback roles. He generally has the size and strength to cover a tight end, the reach and speed to handle a slot receiver, but he can also be deployed in blitz situations and is even an effective run defender if the play stays on the ground.
At 6-foot-4, Kearse is the tallest of the Cowboys’ safeties, although second-year man Israel Mukuamu is right there, too. At 215 pounds, Kearse was the beefiest at the position until Dallas brought in undrafted free agent Juanyeh Thomas, currently listed at two pounds heavier.
It’s clear that he’s the prototype that the Cowboys are trying to collect more of to combat explosive offenses.
“It’s becoming a pass-first league,” the 28-year-old Clemson product said. “Having guys like myself and the other safeties that can play multiple positions, it helps out a lot. You don’t get caught up in positions where you have may a linebacker that’s good for run but can’t play the pass. You have a safety that you know can play the pass and also can play the run.”
The size and strength of a linebacker. But with the coverage skills of a true defensive back. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kearse led the Cowboys in total tackles last year… by a lot.
It’s no coincidence, then, that Kearse is also the Cowboys defender who wears the green dot that identifies him as the primary play-caller for the entire unit.
An effective big nickel gives the defensive coordinator more options with the rest of his personnel and allows for more creativity in using exotic sub-package schemes in the other levels of the defense.
A great big nickel can turn the guy playing the position into a superstar.
“You’ve got the Tyrann Mathieus- a safety, but can go down and play in the nickel, and he also gets in the box,” Kearse offered.
Kearse is the latest example of the Cowboys’ teamwide emphasis on positional versatility. But he may be the one to finally elevate safety in particular, seemingly undervalued in Dallas for so long, to the leader of the defense.
“You don’t have a lot of players, a lot of different positions, that can go out and play multiple positions,” Kearse added. “That’s mainly safeties. We can bump them down, and we can bring them off the edge. We can put them in coverage. We can play them in the box. So I definitely feel like the safety position is gaining a lot of value.”
With more defensive snaps last season than in Kearse’s previous four years combined- and possibly an even higher total in line for 2022- the Cowboys seem to be getting considerable value from their big nickel investment.
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