When training camp started this summer, Jermaine Kearse seemed like he should be a big bubble guy. In fact, we projected early on that he wouldn't even make the team.

Kearse has never been able to get any separation in his routes, and his two bad games to finish last postseason elicited a whole lot of Kearse words from fans and seemingly set him up for a tough battle to hold off Super Bowl standout Chris Matthews, second-year receiver Kevin Norwood, ace rookie Tyler Lockett and perhaps even a couple of fellow former Huskies.

Add his $2.36 million salary on a second-round restricted tender, and he seemed a prime candidate to not make the squad.

But he apparently had his best camp in his four NFL summers, quickly reaffirming himself as a starter on a team lacking any receiver experience beyond Kearse and Doug Baldwin and on a team missing injured Paul Richardson.

In the season opener in St. Louis, Kearse showed he can still be a strong contributor -- even on an offense that added Lockett and superstar tight end Jimmy Graham this year. Kearse caught eight passes on 10 targets for 76 yards in Seattle's 34-31 overtime loss to the Rams.

“He’s been really consistent for years now," said Pete Carroll, who obviously hasn't seen every game Kearse has played if he thinks that. "He has been a guy that has made big plays for us. He plays on special teams. He adds on every chance he gets in every aspect of our game. The fact that he starts it off with a good ballgame -- there’s no surprise there. He’s been a real core guy for us.”

It was a great way to try to prove to his critics that he can be much more consistent than he was in the NFC title game against Green Bay, when he let two passes go off his hands for interceptions, and the Super Bowl against New England, which stifled him all game as Russell Wilson struggled to find targets.

Obviously, Kearse redeemed himself in the NFC title game, catching the winning touchdown pass on a perfectly thrown ball from Wilson, who had four passes picked off earlier in the game -- all on passes intended for Kearse. Until that winning play, it had been a pretty horrible game for the two players who came into the league together in 2012.

"There's no question that Russell trusts Jermaine," Carroll said as the Seahawks prepare to face the Packers again Sunday. "Those guys have grown up together in the NFL making plays together, and so he would never waver on that. … There was no question, no doubt, that he would go to Jermaine regardless of what had happened before. It's just 'reset, next play,' because the trust is that deep, I think, between those guys.”

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said Wilson and Kearse never lose their focus or surrender.

“I love our guys. Our guys are competitors," Bevell said. "We talk about that all the time. Those guys are going to compete. The cool part about both of those guys is that they’re very mentally tough. Not every guy is mentally tough, but those two guys are really mentally tough."

Kearse might go down as the most notable undrafted receiver in NFC title game history -- thanks to his good fortune of being on the receiving end of two perfect game-winning passes by Wilson against the San Francisco 49ers and Packers the past two years.

But Kearse followed up the NFC win earlier this year with a forgettable Super Bowl. He was shut down by former Seattle teammate Brandon Browner for most of the game. He had just two catches for 12 yards until a 33-yard, bobbling catch while on his back late in the game. Two plays later, though, Browner stymied Kearse at the line of scrimmage as Malcolm Butler came around for the game-sealing interception.

After that rollercoaster finish to last season, Kearse really needed to show some consistency this year. The Hawks kept him because they really had no better choices and he contributes in so many areas, but Lockett and Richardson are going to knock him out of the three-receiver sets next year.

He's playing for a contract this year -- from Seattle or some other team -- so he needs to keep adding good performances to his solid opener in St. Louis.

What better way to keep it going than against the Packers -- again -- on Sunday night?

Image: Mike Morris (Flickr)