Details on the Bruce Irvin trade rumors

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Late last night, rumors surfaced that Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin was possibly going to be traded. This time of year, rumors like this are common. There is also a bit of truth in many of them. Luckily, we’re hear to dig through the muck and help everyone figure out exactly what is going on.

First, the Seahawks indicated that they weren’t planning on picking up the 5th year option on Bruce Irvin’s contract. While a bit surprising, it also makes perfect sense. Irvin is a good player, but there’s no way the team wants its third-best linebacker to have a cap number around $8 million.

Almost immediately after that, Pro Football Talk reported that the Seahawks and Falcons were in trade talks to send Irvin to Atlanta. ESPN 710’s Danny O’Neil confirmed the report, and twitter promptly lost its collective mind.

The interesting part of this was that it was only the Falcons that were involved. If the Seahawks were truly shopping Irvin, there are a lot of teams that would be interested. The Jaguars, Titans, Broncos, Chargers and a host of other teams could use Irvin at the right price.

A few minute later, O’Neil came back with this:

Here he points out the obvious: the reports are coming out of Atlanta. They want him, and are hoping that Seattle’s decision to decline Irvin’s option year is a sign that they can get him without giving up too much in return.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens tonight and tomorrow, but it looks like Irvin won’t be traded. The Falcons are right to be interested, but there isn’t any reason for the Seahawks to make this move unless they get significant value in return.

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