They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case a picture was worth that plus over 4,000 likes. Plus, a stream of replies from excited Cowboys fans who interpreted Jayron Kearse’s most recent tweet to mean that he’d be back in action very soon.
— JK (@Jayronkearse8) October 4, 2022
A rendering of Cerberus, the ferocious, three-headed hound of Hades, was shared by Kearse via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, and less than 10 minutes later, fans were replying with their own altered images reflecting their understanding that the beast represented the fearsome trio of the Dallas Cowboys’ most impactful safeties: Jayron Kearse, Malik Hooker, and Donovan Wilson.
While Kearse neither confirmed nor denied the inference that he’d be returning to play soon, fan speculation received extra support this morning when Head Coach Mike McCarthy announced that Kearse would be a full participant in today’s practice after being out with a knee injury since the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With all the praise the Cowboys’ defense has been getting for their performance this year, the fact that Dallas has been without one of their most notable players on that side of the ball has hardly been discussed.
I completely forget bout JK.
Man, our D gonna go hard!
— Micho Riso 👁️👁️ (@FrankieJay__) October 4, 2022
It’s hard to blame anyone that didn’t make a fuss, however. Just as, then free agent, Jayron Kearse put on a weekly show while Donovan Wilson was out with injury in 2021, Wilson has been lighting up the stats sheet himself in Kearse’s absence during the last three games.
Wilson currently leads all safeties with 27 solo tackles, 14 stops, and 6 pressures on the season and is ranked 2nd on the Next Gen Stat’s list of the top 10 safeties of 2022.
The top-ranked passing defense in the NFL is led by one of the league's best young safeties‼️@NextGenStats' full article: https://t.co/dkEnMGEDcq pic.twitter.com/KfUqOxx6I8
— NFL GameDay (@NFLGameDay) September 30, 2022
Malik Hooker seems to be ramping up to match Wilson’s numbers. In Week 4, both safeties played every defensive snap, and Hooker had 8 tackles, doubling his total from Week 3 and falling just one short of Wilson’s 9 tackles against the Commanders.
Jayron Kearse being back in action would mean adding to this already lethal duo a combination safety/linebacker who was mentioned by Pro Football Focus as the best offseason signing of 2022, the 10th best safety in the NFL according to Pro Football Network, and the 13th best safety in the league according to Pro Football Focus with a PFF grade of 76.8. It’s no wonder fans are chomping at the bit to see all of this trio healthy at the same time.
It is still unknown whether or not Jayron Kearse will be ready to play against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
In Week 4, he was a game-time decision but ultimately listed as questionable. As for Week 5, Mike McCarthy explained, “We’ll work through this week’s preparation and [hopefully] be ready to go. He was close last week.”
