Bruce Irvin: Extend Or Not Extend?

Feb 1, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker Bruce Irvin (51) celebrates during the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

With all of the extensions that have been handed out the last couple years, you start to wonder who will get one and who will not. John Schneider always says he wants to keep the core players, but he also says that you cant keep everyone. Where does Bruce Irvin fit into this?

He is still under contract for 2015 with a base salary of $1,663,935 and a cap hit of $2,895,542. The Seahawks also have to decide whether to pick up his fifth year option by May 3rd. The estimated price for that fifth year is about $7.5 million.

I believe that price tag will be too rich for the Seahawks and they will decline the option. In 2016 Sherman’s cap hit will be $14.769 million, Lynch’s (if he doesn’t retire) will be $11.5, Thomas’s will be $9.9, and if Russell signs an extension this off-season his cap hit in 2016 would be somewhere in the upper teens.

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It could simply come down to whether or not Lynch decides to hang up the cleats. Another factor in the equation is Irvin’s age. Unlike Earl Thomas, who was drafted when he was only twenty, Irvin was twenty-four when he was drafted. He will turn twenty-eight about mid-season this year and if the Seahawks do pick up his option he would turn twenty-nine during the 2016 season. He could be to old by then to sign to a long-term extension. So I believe if they do pick up the option it will be his last year, and if they don’t pick up the option its a coin flip.

The Seahawks could also be looking at a pretty good compensatory pick as well if they let him walk. Edge rushers are getting paid more and more each year, so It wouldn’t surprise me to see someone offer him a big contract.

At some point in time you have to create holes in your roster to infuse youth. If you don’t everyone will get old at the same time, then you’re looking at a season where you go from first to worst. If Kevin Pierre-Louis can show some promise this year, or you see an early draft pick on a LEO, it might be the end for Bruce Irvin. They have already extended K.J. Wright, and are probably close to extending Bobby Wagner. They also extended Bennett, and Avril as well so Irvin might be the odd man out.

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