WR Kearse to NFL: Get rid of Thurs. games

Jets wide receiver Jermaine Kearse watched Thursday night’s Seahawks-Cardinals game and saw his former teammate Richard Sherman’s season end because of a torn Achilles tendon.

Like many players, Kearse said he feels playing on Thursday nights is leading to injuries.

“You’re asking guys who play at a high volume on one day and literally give it their all on that one day and then ask them to try to recover and bounce back in a couple of days,” Kearse said Friday. “It’s kind of tough, especially when you’re already dealing with certain stuff from previous weeks that may be nagging or lingering. That can be tough.”

Kearse said his personal opinion is there should not be NFL games on Thursday nights. Several players have expressed similar thoughts lately. He believes it needs to be talked about when the players and league discuss a new collective bargaining agreement.

“I think there definitely has to be a discussion for sure, just finding ways to take better care of players,” Kearse said. “Guys are putting their bodies on the line day in and day out, even through practice.”

Kearse played with Sherman in Seattle from 2012 until he was traded to the Jets in September. He said he felt for Sherman when he saw him go down.

“It’s definitely tough because I’ve seen that dude play through a lot of stuff and I know it means a lot to him, especially him being out there with his teammates,” Kearse said. “I know it hurt him. He’s going to bounce back. He has that grit and that perseverance.”

RB Matt Forte (knee) and DL Ed Stinson (neck) have been declared out for Sunday’s game with the Buccaneers. DE Muhammad Wilkerson (shoulder, foot), CB Morris Claiborne (foot), RG Brian Winters (abdomen), WR ArDarius Stewart (groin) and center Jonotthan Harrison (hand) are questionable. Coach Todd Bowles said all of the questionable players will be game-time decisions.

Stewart was a new addition to the injury report. He tweaked his groin Thursday, Bowles said. If he is out, the Jets would be down to three healthy wide receivers and may need to sign one from their practice squad. Jalin Marshall, JoJo Natson and Damore’ea Stringfellow are all on the practice squad.

Rookie TE Jordan Leggett, who is on injured reserve, tweeted Thursday that he had surgery on his knee. Bowles said he was not sure exactly what was wrong with the knee.

“I don’t know what he had,” Bowles said. “It was supposed to be a one- or two-week thing. It just kept getting worse and lingering on. It got a little better and a little worse. They decided to shut him down and do surgery.”