NFL free agency is less than a week from kicking off, and ESPN's Adam Schefter already has the scoop around the league. Schefter's latest scoop relates to the Seattle Seahawks and one of their free agents in particular. However the scoop isn't about Bruce Irvin or Russell Okung, rather it's on former undrafted free agent Jermaine Kearse.

The Seahawks' wide receiver reportedly told Schefter that he does not expect to come back to the Seahawks for the 2016 season. Last season the 26-year-old recorded a number of career highs, catching 49 passes for 685 yards and found the end zone five times.

Teammates have always had great things to say about Kearse, he has been almost like a little brother figure to many of the veteran Hawks in the locker room. And with the big catches he made in the 2014 postseason and the advances he made this year, the little brother definitely grew up.

But should Kearse's prediction turn out to be true, will his absence next year matter? Probably not.

There are two main reasons why, one is because of Tyler Lockett stepping up and solidifying himself as the bonafide no. 2 option behind Doug Baldwin. Had Lockett not put on the show that he did, the Hawks would have had no choice but to bring back Kearse. However now, there will be a team willing to pay Pork Chop no. 2 receiver money, and the Seahawks with their cap situation as it is won't pay him no. 2 money to be their no. 3. 

The other is that the Seahawks still have Paul Richardson. Richardson brings a skill that no other Seattle wide receiver does, and that is the ability to vertically stretch the field. Kearse never possessed the top end speed the Seattle receiving core lacked, and to be honest, he never had the best hands on the team either. Who can forget the four drops he had in the NFC championship game against the Packer in 2015? Sure he made the game winning catch, but partly because of his performance the Seahawks needed to pull out such a miracle.

Surely the entire fan base hopes that Pork Chop will stick around, after all the Puget Sound is the only place he has ever played football. He played his high school ball at Lakes High School in Tacoma, college ball in Montlake at the University of Washington and then serendipitously he would up on the Seahawks. 

Just hope that he doesn't end up on the 49ers.

Photo:Flickr/Mike Morris